Alert archive / Wisconsin / Tornado Watches in 2009

Tornado Watch 715

August 19, 20094 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Aug 19, 2009, 4:49 PM CDT for 4 states. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Aug 19, 2009, 4:49 PM CDT (21:49 UTC)
Expired
Aug 19, 2009, 9:50 PM CDT
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
1 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 59 counties

Allamakee County, IA, Buchanan County, IA, Cedar County, IA, Clayton County, IA, Clinton County, IA, Delaware County, IA, Dubuque County, IA, Fayette County, IA, Iowa County, IA, Jackson County, IA, Johnson County, IA, Jones County, IA, Linn County, IA, Muscatine County, IA, Scott County, IA, Winneshiek County, IA, Bureau County, IL, Carroll County, IL, Henry County, IL, Jo Daviess County, IL, Mercer County, IL, Putnam County, IL, Rock Island County, IL, Stephenson County, IL, Whiteside County, IL, Fillmore County, MN, Houston County, MN, Wabasha County, MN, Winona County, MN, Adams County, WI, Barron County, WI, Buffalo County, WI, Burnett County, WI, Chippewa County, WI, Clark County, WI, Crawford County, WI, Dunn County, WI, Eau Claire County, WI, Grant County, WI, Green County, WI, Iowa County, WI, Jackson County, WI, Juneau County, WI, La Crosse County, WI, Lafayette County, WI, Monroe County, WI, Pepin County, WI, Pierce County, WI, Polk County, WI, Price County, WI, Richland County, WI, Rusk County, WI, Saint Croix County, WI, Sauk County, WI, Sawyer County, WI, Taylor County, WI, Trempealeau County, WI, Vernon County, WI, Washburn County, WI

The radar

The La Crosse radar (KARX), 46 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:53 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.

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
20%
Ten or more severe wind reports
30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
20%
Ten or more severe hail reports
40%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
10%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
80%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 19, 5:13 PM CDTTornado WarningMPXBarron, Dunn, Polk, Saint Croix47 min
Aug 19, 5:20 PM CDTTornado WarningARXAllamakee31 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

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 196 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, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 2009-08-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 368 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 2009-08-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 121 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
368 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-49 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
615 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
121 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
68 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
3.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 19, 11:51 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Bond, Brown, Bureau, Calhoun, Cass and 45 more114 min
Aug 19, 12:49 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAdams, Brown, Bureau, Cass, Champaign, Christian and 52 more6 hr
Aug 19, 3:05 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCChampaign, Christian, Coles, Douglas, Edgar, Moultrie and 2 more2 hr
Aug 19, 3:19 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCChampaign, Christian, Clark, Coles, Cumberland, DeWitt and 22 more86 min
Aug 19, 5:11 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCClark, Clay, Crawford, Cumberland, Effingham, Jasper and 2 more5 hr
Aug 19, 4:34 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllamakee, Clayton, Delaware, Dubuque, Jackson, Jones and 1 more56 min
Aug 19, 5:19 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Buena Vista, Cass, Cherokee, Crawford, Fremont and 14 more26 min
Aug 19, 5:32 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAdair, Adams, Audubon, Boone, Buena Vista, Calhoun and 43 more6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Wisconsin, 2009Tornado Watches in Iowa, 2009Tornado Watches in Illinois, 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.