Alert archive / Wisconsin / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Milwaukee, WI

May 10, 2003Columbia County, Dane County, Wisconsin

NWS Milwaukee, WI issued this tornado warning at May 10, 2003, 9:35 PM CDT for Columbia County, Dane County, Wisconsin. It was in force for 55 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 10, 2003, 9:35 PM CDT (02:35 UTC)
Expired: May 10, 2003, 10:30 PM CDT
In force: 55 min
Issued by: NWS Milwaukee, WI
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Columbia County, WI, Dane County, WI

The radar

The Milwaukee radar (KMKX), 83 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:39 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 10, 6:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr
May 10, 9:35 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	3 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), launched 00:00Z, 2.6 hours before the alert went out and 174 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1098 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -36 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 23 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

706 
WFUS53 KMKX 110235
TORMKX
WIC021-025-110330-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
935 PM CDT SAT MAY 10 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SULLIVAN HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  COLUMBIA COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN
  NORTHERN DANE COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN

* UNTIL 1030 PM CDT

* AT 935 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO. THE MOST
  DANGEROUS PORTION OF THE STORM WAS LOCATED 5 MILES NORTHEAST OF
  CROSS PLAINS...OR ABOUT 5 MILES NORTHWEST OF MIDDLETON...MOVING
  NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  DANE AT 940 PM CDT.
  WINDSOR AT 945 PM CDT.
  DE FOREST AT 950 PM CDT.
  ARLINGTON AT 955 PM CDT.

NIGHTTIME TORNADOES ARE ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS TAKE COVER NOW IF YOU
WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE OR HEAR IT COMING...IT MAY BE TOO LATE TO GET TO A
SAFE PLACE

LAT...LON 4310 8981 4309 8936 4345 8903 4365 8941

$$

HENTZ

The office that day

Everything else NWS Milwaukee, WI issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 10, 7:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Marquette	48 min
May 10, 8:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Green Lake, Marquette	38 min
May 10, 8:25 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Iowa, Lafayette	65 min
May 10, 8:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Dane	64 min
May 10, 9:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Dodge, Jefferson	48 min
May 10, 9:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Dodge, Jefferson	37 min
May 10, 9:24 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Iowa, Sauk	66 min
May 10, 10:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Dodge	60 min
May 10, 10:21 PM CDT	Special Marine Warning	MKX		54 min
May 10, 10:21 PM CDT	Special Marine Warning	MKX		54 min
May 10, 10:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Dodge	66 min
May 10, 11:04 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Dodge, Fond du Lac, Washington	56 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Wisconsin, 2003 Every tornado warning in 2003 Tornadoes in 2003

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.