Alert archive / Wisconsin / Tornado Warnings in 2004

Tornado Warning 18, NWS Milwaukee, WI

August 3, 2004Sauk County, Wisconsin

NWS Milwaukee, WI issued this tornado warning at Aug 3, 2004, 4:52 PM CDT for Sauk County, Wisconsin. It was in force for 23 min. 3 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Aug 3, 2004, 4:52 PM CDT (21:52 UTC)
Expired: Aug 3, 2004, 5:15 PM CDT
In force: 23 min
Issued by: NWS Milwaukee, WI
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Sauk County, WI

The radar

The La Crosse radar (KARX), 114 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:54 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where
Aug 3, 4:54 PM CDT	HAIL 1	3 Sw Lake Delton, WI
Aug 3, 4:54 PM CDT	HAIL 1	Lake Delton, WI
Aug 3, 4:54 PM CDT	HAIL 1.25	1 W Baraboo, WI

Local storm reports filed while the alert was in force, from inside its polygon or its counties.

The watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Aug 3, 4:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), launched 12:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 171 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: 1004 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 38 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 126 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS53 KMKX 032152
TORMKX
WIC111-032215-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MILWAUKEE/SULLIVAN WI
452 PM CDT TUE AUG 3 2004

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MILWAUKEE HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SAUK COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL WISCONSIN

* UNTIL 515 PM CDT

* AT 452 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 SOUTHWEST OF
  LAKE DELTON...OR ABOUT 6 MILES NORTHWEST OF BARABOO...MOVING EAST
  AT 25 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  WEST BARABOO AROUND 455 PM CDT...
  BARABOO AROUND 500 PM CDT...

THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE DURING A TORNADO IS IN A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A
WORKBENCH OR OTHER PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. ALWAYS STAY AWAY FROM
WINDOWS

LAT...LON 4364 8989 4346 8993 4341 8961 4364 8977

$$

REM

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 3, 4:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Sauk	51 min
Aug 3, 4:59 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Columbia	31 min
Aug 3, 5:15 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	MKX	Columbia, Sauk	3 hr
Aug 3, 5:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Dodge	44 min
Aug 3, 5:24 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Dodge	66 min
Aug 3, 6:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Dodge, Jefferson	27 min
Aug 3, 6:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Iowa, Sauk	42 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Wisconsin, 2004 Every tornado warning in 2004 Tornadoes in 2004

Sources

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