Alert archive / Wisconsin / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2012
Severe Thunderstorm Watch 230
The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 3, 2012, 1:07 PM CDT for 11 counties in Illinois; 13 counties in Wisconsin. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 3, 2012, 1:07 PM CDT (18:07 UTC)
- Expired
- May 3, 2012, 7:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 2 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
All 24 counties
Boone County, IL, Cook County, IL, DeKalb County, IL, DuPage County, IL, Kane County, IL, Kendall County, IL, Lake County, IL, McHenry County, IL, Ogle County, IL, Will County, IL, Winnebago County, IL, Columbia County, WI, Dane County, WI, Dodge County, WI, Green County, WI, Jefferson County, WI, Kenosha County, WI, Milwaukee County, WI, Ozaukee County, WI, Racine County, WI, Rock County, WI, Walworth County, WI, Washington County, WI, Waukesha County, WI
The radar
The Milwaukee radar (KMKX), 25 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:08 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
- 20%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 5%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 30%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 30%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 30%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 30%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 60%
Warnings issued inside it
9 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 3, 1:29 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MKX | Jefferson | 46 min |
| May 3, 1:41 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MKX | Dodge, Washington | 49 min |
| May 3, 2:15 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MKX | Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington, Waukesha | 30 min |
| May 3, 2:59 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MKX | Columbia, Dodge | 46 min |
| May 3, 3:21 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MKX | Dane | 39 min |
| May 3, 3:52 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MKX | Dodge | 23 min |
| May 3, 3:52 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MKX | Dane, Jefferson | 23 min |
| May 3, 4:10 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MKX | Jefferson, Waukesha | 35 min |
| May 3, 6:20 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LOT | Cook | 43 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, 6.1 hours before the alert went out and 186 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 321 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -146 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 565 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 58 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 160 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 220 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.8
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 3, 2:53 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Boone, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Kane, Lake and 3 more | 67 min |
| May 3, 3:53 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Brown, Bureau, Cass, DeWitt, Fulton, Greene and 22 more | 37 min |
| May 3, 4:20 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Bureau, Cass, Champaign, DeWitt, Ford, Fulton and 26 more | 8 hr |
| May 3, 6:22 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake and 1 more | 23 min |
| May 3, 6:41 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Boone, Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Ford, Grundy and 12 more | 5 hr |
| May 3, 6:42 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Brown, Cass, DeWitt, Fulton, Greene and 17 more | 63 min |
| May 2, 11:51 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Manistee, Mason, Oceana | 54 min |
| May 3, 10:34 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Arenac, Bay, Clare, Clinton, Genesee, Gladwin and 28 more | 86 min |
| May 3, 11:41 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Alcona, Alpena, Antrim, Arenac, Bay, Benzie and 23 more | 5 hr |
| May 3, 1:35 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Allegan, Barry, Berrien, Branch, Calhoun, Cass and 27 more | 8 hr |
| May 3, 1:39 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Antrim, Arenac, Bay, Benzie, Clare, Crawford and 18 more | 66 min |
| May 3, 3:33 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Allegan, Barry, Bay, Calhoun, Cass, Clinton and 15 more | 57 min |
| May 3, 5:57 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Allegan, Barry, Berrien, Branch, Calhoun, Cass and 28 more | 63 min |
| May 2, 7:38 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Buffalo, Jackson, Juneau, La Crosse, Monroe and 4 more | 37 min |
| May 2, 7:47 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Adams, Buffalo, Clark, Jackson, Juneau, La Crosse and 3 more | 5 hr |
| May 3, 8:43 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Brown, Buffalo, Calumet, Clark, Columbia and 26 more | 92 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Wisconsin, 2012Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Illinois, 2012Every severe thunderstorm watch in 2012
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.