Alert archive / Indiana / Tornado Watches in 2009

Tornado Watch 309

May 15, 200943 counties in Indiana; 25 counties in Ohio

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 15, 2009, 7:39 PM EDT for 43 counties in Indiana; 25 counties in Ohio. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 15, 2009, 7:39 PM EDT (23:39 UTC)
Expired
May 16, 2009, 2:00 AM EDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 68 counties

Adams County, IN, Benton County, IN, Blackford County, IN, Boone County, IN, Carroll County, IN, Cass County, IN, Clinton County, IN, Delaware County, IN, Fayette County, IN, Fountain County, IN, Franklin County, IN, Fulton County, IN, Grant County, IN, Hamilton County, IN, Hancock County, IN, Hendricks County, IN, Henry County, IN, Howard County, IN, Huntington County, IN, Jasper County, IN, Jay County, IN, Johnson County, IN, Madison County, IN, Marion County, IN, Miami County, IN, Montgomery County, IN, Morgan County, IN, Newton County, IN, Parke County, IN, Pulaski County, IN, Putnam County, IN, Randolph County, IN, Rush County, IN, Shelby County, IN, Tippecanoe County, IN, Tipton County, IN, Union County, IN, Vermillion County, IN, Wabash County, IN, Warren County, IN, Wayne County, IN, Wells County, IN, White County, IN, Adams County, OH, Allen County, OH, Auglaize County, OH, Brown County, OH, Butler County, OH, Champaign County, OH, Clark County, OH, Clermont County, OH, Clinton County, OH, Darke County, OH, Fayette County, OH, Greene County, OH, Hamilton County, OH, Hardin County, OH, Highland County, OH, Logan County, OH, Madison County, OH, Mercer County, OH, Miami County, OH, Montgomery County, OH, Preble County, OH, Shelby County, OH, Union County, OH, Van Wert County, OH, Warren County, OH

The radar

The Indianapolis radar (KIND), 86 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:42 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 SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes
40%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
30%
Ten or more severe wind reports
50%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
30%
Ten or more severe hail reports
50%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
80%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 15, 7:47 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTBenton58 min
May 15, 8:11 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningINDWarren64 min
May 15, 8:17 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningINDFountain, Montgomery, Tippecanoe43 min
May 15, 8:32 PM EDTTornado WarningINDWarren24 min
May 15, 8:42 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLOTBenton51 min
May 15, 8:55 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningINDTippecanoe65 min
May 15, 8:58 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWXWhite62 min
May 15, 9:01 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningINDWarren4 hr
May 15, 9:07 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningLOTBenton6 hr
May 15, 9:26 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningINDFountain, Parke, Vermillion, Warren64 min
May 15, 9:53 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningIWXCass, White6 hr
May 15, 10:15 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningINDCarroll30 min
May 15, 10:26 PM EDTFlash Flood WarningINDCarroll, Fountain, Tippecanoe4 hr
May 15, 10:40 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningINDClinton, Tippecanoe50 min
May 15, 11:00 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningINDBoone, Hendricks, Montgomery, Putnam45 min
May 15, 11:24 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningINDHoward36 min
May 15, 11:24 PM EDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningIWXCass, Grant, Miami, Wabash56 min
May 16, 12:02 AM EDTFlash Flood WarningIWXFulton, Kosciusko, Miami6 hr

Discussions around it

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

The nearest sounding before it

Cncnati-Daytn, OH (KILN), launched 12:00Z, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 204 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2009-05-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Cncnati-Daytn, OH at 12:00Z on 2009-05-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 87 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
1409 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
87 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
163 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 15, 1:57 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCHarrison63 min
May 15, 6:31 PM EDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBenton, Boone, Carroll, Cass, Clay, Clinton and 25 more119 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Indiana, 2009Tornado Watches in Ohio, 2009Every tornado watch in 2009

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.