Alert archive / Wisconsin / Tornado Watches in 2005

Tornado Watch 732

August 18, 20058 counties in Wisconsin

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Aug 18, 2005, 5:50 PM CDT for 8 counties in Wisconsin. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Aug 18, 2005, 5:50 PM CDT (22:50 UTC)
Expired: Aug 18, 2005, 10:21 PM CDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Dodge County, WI, Fond du Lac County, WI, Green Lake County, WI, Jefferson County, WI, Kenosha County, WI, Walworth County, WI, Washington County, WI, Waukesha County, WI

The radar

The Milwaukee radar (KMKX), 47 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:54 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.

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
Aug 18, 6:29 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Jefferson	61 min
Aug 18, 6:33 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Green Lake, Marquette	35 min
Aug 18, 7:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Dane, Jefferson	63 min
Aug 18, 7:48 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Rock, Walworth	57 min
Aug 18, 8:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MKX	Jefferson, Waukesha	44 min
Aug 18, 8:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MKX	Walworth	35 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

Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), launched 12:00Z, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 128 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: 206 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -38 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 995 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 66 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 90 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.

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 182249
SEL2  
SPC WW 182249
WIZ000-LMZ000-190400-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 732
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
550 PM CDT THU AUG 18 2005

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

       SOUTHEAST WISCONSIN
       LAKE MICHIGAN

EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 550 PM UNTIL
1100 PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1.5 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND
GUSTS TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 30 STATUTE MILES
EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 75 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF MILWAUKEE
WISCONSIN TO 40 MILES SOUTHWEST OF MILWAUKEE WISCONSIN.  FOR A
COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE
UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU2).

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 730...WW 731...

DISCUSSION...TORNADIC SUPERCELLS OVER SOUTH CENTRAL WI WILL LIKELY
CONTINUE TO POSE A THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER FOR ANOTHER FEW HOURS AS
THEY TRACK EASTWARD.  CAPE/SHEAR COMBINATIONS WILL MAINTAIN A RISK
OF ISOLATED TORNADOES.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1.5 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
500. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 28035.


...HART

435,0875 423,0875 423,0890 435,0890

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 18, 9:00 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Kenosha, Racine, Rock, Walworth	2 hr
Aug 18, 2:09 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Columbia, Crawford, Dane, Dodge, Grant and 16 more	96 min
Aug 18, 2:50 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Adams, Columbia, Crawford, Dane, Grant, Green and 15 more	6 hr
Aug 18, 5:47 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Columbia, Crawford, Dane, Dodge, Fond du Lac and 24 more	58 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Wisconsin, 2005 Every tornado watch in 2005

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.