Alert archive / Indiana / Tornado Watches in 2004

Tornado Watch 264

May 23, 20044 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 23, 2004, 3:50 PM CDT for 4 states. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 23, 2004, 3:50 PM CDT (20:50 UTC)
Expired: May 23, 2004, 10:00 PM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 65 counties

Cook County, IL, DuPage County, IL, Iroquois County, IL, Kankakee County, IL, Vermilion County, IL, Will County, IL, Allen County, IN, Benton County, IN, Carroll County, IN, Cass County, IN, DeKalb County, IN, Elkhart County, IN, Fulton County, IN, Huntington County, IN, Jasper County, IN, Kosciusko County, IN, LaGrange County, IN, Lake County, IN, LaPorte County, IN, Marshall County, IN, Miami County, IN, Newton County, IN, Noble County, IN, Porter County, IN, Pulaski County, IN, Saint Joseph County, IN, Starke County, IN, Steuben County, IN, Tippecanoe County, IN, Wabash County, IN, Warren 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, Eaton County, MI, Genesee County, MI, Hillsdale County, MI, Ingham 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, Shiawassee County, MI, Van Buren County, MI, Washtenaw County, MI, Wayne County, MI, Defiance County, OH, Fulton County, OH, Henry County, OH, Lucas County, OH, Ottawa County, OH, Paulding County, OH, Williams County, OH, Wood County, OH

The radar

The Northern Indiana radar (KIWX), 49 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:53 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 23, 3:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Ingham	52 min
May 23, 3:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Shiawassee	94 min
May 23, 3:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Allegan	32 min
May 23, 4:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Paulding, Van Wert	56 min
May 23, 4:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	LaGrange	36 min
May 23, 4:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Van Buren	46 min
May 23, 4:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Barry	29 min
May 23, 4:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Lenawee	72 min
May 23, 4:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Allen, Defiance, Putnam	51 min
May 23, 4:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Genesee	80 min
May 23, 4:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GRR	Ingham	30 min
May 23, 4:35 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DTX	Livingston	55 min
May 23, 4:37 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DTX	Shiawassee	53 min
May 23, 4:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	IWX	Henry	37 min
May 23, 4:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DTX	Genesee	60 min
May 23, 4:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GRR	Kalamazoo	42 min
May 23, 4:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CLE	Hancock, Wood	54 min
May 23, 5:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Wayne	57 min
May 23, 5:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Monroe	39 min
May 23, 5:12 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DTX	Lapeer	78 min
May 23, 5:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Macomb	58 min
May 23, 5:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Oakland, Wayne	80 min
May 23, 5:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Saint Clair	62 min
May 23, 6:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Shiawassee	62 min
May 23, 6:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Genesee	74 min
May 23, 6:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Macomb	22 min
May 23, 6:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Lapeer	80 min
May 23, 6:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DTX	Saint Clair	93 min
May 23, 7:40 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LOT	Kendall, Will	50 min
May 23, 7:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOT	DuPage	42 min
May 23, 7:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOT	Will	50 min
May 23, 8:05 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	LOT	Cook	3 hr
May 23, 8:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOT	Cook	38 min
May 23, 8:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOT	Cook	41 min
May 23, 9:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOT	Ford, Iroquois	45 min
May 23, 9:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOT	Lake	49 min
May 23, 9:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LOT	Porter	52 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, 8.8 hours before the alert went out and 230 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 232050
SEL4  
SPC WW 232050
ILZ000-INZ000-MIZ000-OHZ000-LMZ000-LEZ000-240300-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 264
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
450 PM EDT SUN MAY 23 2004

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

       EASTERN ILLINOIS
       NORTHERN INDIANA
       SOUTHERN LOWER MICHIGAN
       NORTHWEST OHIO
       LAKE MICHIGAN
       LAKE ERIE

EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 450 PM UNTIL 1100
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 65 STATUTE MILES NORTH AND
SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 65 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF MEIGS FIELD
ILLINOIS TO 15 MILES 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.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO
WATCH NUMBER 259. WATCH NUMBER 259 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 450
PM EDT. CONTINUE...WW 261...WW 262...WW 263...

DISCUSSION...CLUSTER OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE NEWD ACROSS IN
INTO LOWER MI. AIR MASS REMAINS MODERATELY UNSTABLE WITH MLCAPE TO
2500 J/KG AS DEEP LAYER SHEAR IS NOW AROUND 40 KT.  FURTHER
DEVELOPMENT IS EXPECTED AHEAD OF ADVANCING COLD FRONT MOVING EWD
THRU SERN IA AND CENTRAL MO ENHANCING UVVS ACROSS IL INTO IN LATER
THIS EVENING.  FAVORABLE SHEAR AND INSTABILITY INDICATES FAVORABLE
CONDITIONS FOR SUPERCELLS.

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
550. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24035.


...MCCARTHY

415,0880 432,0823 412,0823 400,0880

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 22, 8:58 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Boone, Bureau, Carroll, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy and 23 more	92 min
May 23, 12:24 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Boone, Bureau, Carroll, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage and 32 more	66 min
May 23, 12:40 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Boone, Bureau, Carroll, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage and 27 more	5 hr
May 23, 1:21 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Greene, Jersey and 6 more	24 min
May 23, 1:40 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Adams, Brown, Cass, Fulton, Hancock, Logan and 8 more	4 hr
May 23, 4:30 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Boone, Brown, Bureau, Carroll, Cass and 44 more	60 min
May 23, 10:45 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Clark, Clay, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Edgar and 19 more	5 hr
May 23, 12:25 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Brown, Bureau, Calhoun, Carroll, Cass and 31 more	95 min
May 23, 12:45 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clark, Clay, Coles, Crawford, Cumberland, Edgar and 18 more	2 hr
May 23, 1:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Fulton, Greene and 16 more	6 hr
May 23, 2:05 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Boone, Bureau, Carroll, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy and 18 more	8 hr
May 23, 2:53 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Iroquois, Vermilion	67 min
May 23, 4:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Monroe	5 hr
May 23, 5:00 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Bond, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Christian and 28 more	2 hr
May 23, 5:10 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Boone, Bureau, Carroll, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy and 17 more	95 min
May 23, 5:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Bond, Calhoun, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton and 29 more	6 hr
May 23, 6:30 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Cook, DuPage, Iroquois, Kankakee, Vermilion, Will	2 hr
May 23, 9:45 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Allen, Benton, Blackford, Boone, Carroll and 37 more	2 hr
May 23, 10:10 AM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Adams, Allen, Blackford, Carroll, Cass, Clinton and 21 more	6 hr
May 23, 12:35 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Allen, Blackford, Carroll, Cass, Clinton and 19 more	115 min

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.