Alert archive / Indiana / Tornado Watches in 2003

Tornado Watch 445

May 30, 200312 counties in Illinois; 47 counties in Indiana; 4 counties in Michigan

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 30, 2003, 9:10 PM CDT for 12 counties in Illinois; 47 counties in Indiana; 4 counties in Michigan. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 30, 2003, 9:10 PM CDT (02:10 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 2003, 3:00 AM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 63 counties

Clark County, IL, Clay County, IL, Coles County, IL, Crawford County, IL, Cumberland County, IL, Douglas County, IL, Edgar County, IL, Effingham County, IL, Jasper County, IL, Lawrence County, IL, Richland County, IL, Vermilion County, IL, Benton County, IN, Boone County, IN, Carroll County, IN, Cass County, IN, Clay County, IN, Clinton County, IN, Daviess County, IN, Elkhart County, IN, Fountain County, IN, Fulton County, IN, Grant County, IN, Greene County, IN, Hamilton County, IN, Hendricks County, IN, Howard County, IN, Huntington County, IN, Jasper County, IN, Knox County, IN, Kosciusko County, IN, LaGrange County, IN, LaPorte County, IN, Marion County, IN, Marshall County, IN, Martin County, IN, Miami County, IN, Monroe County, IN, Montgomery County, IN, Morgan County, IN, Newton County, IN, Noble County, IN, Owen County, IN, Parke County, IN, Porter County, IN, Pulaski County, IN, Putnam County, IN, Saint Joseph County, IN, Starke County, IN, Steuben County, IN, Sullivan County, IN, Tippecanoe County, IN, Tipton County, IN, Vermillion County, IN, Vigo County, IN, Wabash County, IN, Warren County, IN, White County, IN, Whitley County, IN, Berrien County, MI, Branch County, MI, Cass County, MI, Saint Joseph County, MI

The radar

The Indianapolis radar (KIND), 85 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:10 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.

Warnings issued inside it

6 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 30, 9:27 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Champaign, Vermilion	63 min
May 30, 9:50 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Douglas	40 min
May 30, 10:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ILX	Edgar	45 min
May 30, 10:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	Fountain, Vermillion	43 min
May 30, 10:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	Montgomery	32 min
May 30, 11:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Cass, Fulton, Pulaski	45 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Lincoln, IL (KILX), launched 00:00Z, 2.2 hours before the alert went out and 120 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: 142 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -148 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1329 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 63 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 190 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 219 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 310208
SEL5  
SPC WW 310210
ILZ000-INZ000-MIZ000-LMZ000-310800-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 445 
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 
910 PM EST FRI MAY 30 2003

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 

       EASTERN ILLINOIS
       WESTERN AND NORTHERN INDIANA
       SOUTHWEST LOWER MICHIGAN
       LAKE MICHIGAN

EFFECTIVE THIS FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY MORNING FROM 910 PM UNTIL
300 AM EST.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 60 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 40 MILES NORTHEAST OF SOUTH BEND INDIANA TO 65
MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF TERRE HAUTE INDIANA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA.
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.


OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 443...WW 444...


DISCUSSION...BAND OF SUPERCELLS ALONG CNTRL IL DRY LINE EXPECTED TO
CONTINUE GENERALLY EWD...WITH GRADUAL EVOLUTION INTO A SQUALL LINE
WITH EMBEDDED LEWPS/SMALL SCALE BOWS.  THREAT FOR A FEW TORNADOES
MAY PERSIST FOR A FEW MORE HOURS DESPITE ONSET OF NOCTURNAL COOLING
AS BOTH DEEP SHEAR AND LOW LEVEL DIRECTIONAL SHEAR REMAIN SUPPORTIVE
OF  SOME LOW LEVEL STORM ROTATION.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 INCH. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 450.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 29030.


...CORFIDI

420,0843 383,0863 383,0885 420,0865

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 30, 7:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Boone, Bureau, Cass, Champaign, Cook, DeKalb and 35 more	6 hr
May 30, 9:04 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clark, Crawford, Edgar	86 min
May 30, 11:21 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clark, Clay, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Douglas and 6 more	84 min
May 30, 11:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Bartholomew, Brown, Clark, Dearborn, Decatur, Delaware and 21 more	5 hr
May 31, 1:01 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bartholomew, Brown, Clark, Dearborn, Decatur, Delaware and 22 more	59 min
May 31, 2:32 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Dearborn, Franklin, Jefferson, Ohio, Ripley, Switzerland and 2 more	28 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Indiana, 2003 Tornado Watches in Illinois, 2003 Tornado Watches in Michigan, 2003 Every tornado watch 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.