Alert archive / Indiana / Tornado Watches in 2004

Tornado Watch 259

May 23, 200427 counties in Indiana; 27 counties in Michigan; 14 counties in Ohio

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 23, 2004, 10:10 AM EST for 27 counties in Indiana; 27 counties in Michigan; 14 counties in Ohio. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 23, 2004, 10:10 AM EST (15:10 UTC)
Expired: May 23, 2004, 4:00 PM EST
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 68 counties

Adams County, IN, Allen County, IN, Blackford County, IN, Carroll County, IN, Cass County, IN, Clinton County, IN, DeKalb County, IN, Elkhart County, IN, Fulton County, IN, Grant County, IN, Howard County, IN, Huntington County, IN, Kosciusko County, IN, LaGrange County, IN, LaPorte County, IN, Marshall County, IN, Miami County, IN, Noble County, IN, Pulaski County, IN, Saint Joseph County, IN, Starke County, IN, Steuben County, IN, Tipton County, IN, Wabash County, IN, Wells County, IN, White County, IN, Whitley County, IN, Allegan County, MI, Barry County, MI, Berrien County, MI, Branch County, MI, Calhoun County, MI, Cass County, MI, Clinton County, MI, Eaton County, MI, Genesee County, MI, Hillsdale County, MI, Ingham County, MI, Ionia County, MI, Jackson County, MI, Kalamazoo County, MI, Lapeer County, MI, Lenawee County, MI, Livingston County, MI, Macomb County, MI, Monroe County, MI, Oakland County, MI, Saint Clair County, MI, Saint Joseph County, MI, Sanilac County, MI, Shiawassee County, MI, Van Buren County, MI, Washtenaw County, MI, Wayne County, MI, Defiance County, OH, Erie County, OH, Fulton County, OH, Hancock County, OH, Henry County, OH, Lucas County, OH, Ottawa County, OH, Paulding County, OH, Putnam County, OH, Sandusky County, OH, Seneca County, OH, Van Wert County, OH, Williams County, OH, Wood County, OH

The radar

The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 89 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:14 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 23, 1:53 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	White	52 min
May 23, 1:57 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IND	Carroll	33 min
May 23, 2:11 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Cass	49 min
May 23, 2:31 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Fulton, Miami	44 min
May 23, 2:57 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Kosciusko, Wabash	48 min
May 23, 3:20 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Whitley	40 min
May 23, 3:23 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Grant, Huntington	37 min
May 23, 3:28 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Barry, Calhoun, Eaton	47 min
May 23, 3:36 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Blackford, Wells	39 min
May 23, 3:48 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Adams, Allen	42 min
May 23, 3:53 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Ingham	52 min
May 23, 3:56 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Shiawassee	94 min
May 23, 3:58 PM EST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Allegan	32 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

Detroit, MI (KDTX), launched 12:00Z, 3.2 hours before the alert went out and 157 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: 123 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -175 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 589 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 58 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 159 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 224 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 231510
SEL9  
SPC WW 231510
INZ000-MIZ000-OHZ000-LMZ000-LEZ000-LHZ000-232100-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 259
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1110 AM EDT SUN MAY 23 2004

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

       NORTHERN AND CENTRAL INDIANA
       SOUTHERN HALF OF LOWER MICHIGAN
       NORTHWEST OHIO
       LAKE MICHIGAN
       LAKE ERIE
       LAKE HURON

EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY MORNING AND AFTERNOON FROM 1110 AM UNTIL 500
PM EDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2.5 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND
GUSTS TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 85 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 40 MILES SOUTHWEST OF SOUTH BEND INDIANA TO
25 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF MOUNT CLEMENS MICHIGAN.

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.

DISCUSSION...AIR MASS CONTINUES TO DESTABILIZE RAPIDLY S OF
QUASISTATIONARY BOUNDARY ACROSS SRN LOWER MI.  MOST UNSTABLE CAPE IS
JUST ABOVE 2500 J/KG AHEAD OF LINE OF CONVECTION MOVING THROUGH
EXTREME ERN IL.  SURFACE BASED CONVECTION IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP
RAPIDLY NEXT FEW HOURS...AND AS MID/UPPER LEVEL JET EXIT REGION
MOVES INTO REGION...SHEAR PROFILES WILL INCREASE ENHANCING TORNADO
THREAT.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2.5 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
500. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24035.


...MCCARTHY

423,0865 434,0822 411,0822 400,0865

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 23, 9:45 AM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Allen, Benton, Blackford, Boone, Carroll and 37 more	2 hr
May 23, 10:45 AM EST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Bartholomew, Brown, Clark, Clay, Crawford, Daviess and 35 more	5 hr
May 23, 12:35 PM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Allen, Blackford, Carroll, Cass, Clinton and 19 more	115 min
May 23, 12:45 PM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bartholomew, Brown, Clark, Clay, Crawford, Daviess and 33 more	2 hr
May 23, 2:53 PM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Allen, Benton, Blackford, Carroll, Cass and 29 more	67 min
May 23, 3:50 PM EST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Allen, Benton, Carroll, Cass, DeKalb, Elkhart and 21 more	6 hr
May 23, 5:30 PM EST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Adams, Bartholomew, Blackford, Boone, Brown, Clay and 41 more	6 hr
May 23, 6:30 PM EST	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allen, Benton, Carroll, Cass, DeKalb, Elkhart and 21 more	2 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Indiana, 2004 Tornado Watches in Michigan, 2004 Tornado Watches in Ohio, 2004 Every tornado watch 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.