Alert archive / Iowa / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1986

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 1, NWS Des Moines, IA

March 18, 1986Jasper County, Iowa

NWS Des Moines, IA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 18, 1986, 5:14 PM CST for Jasper County, Iowa. It was in force for 46 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Mar 18, 1986, 5:14 PM CST (23:14 UTC)
Expired
Mar 18, 1986, 6:00 PM CST
In force
46 min
Issued by
NWS Des Moines, IA
Area
Whole counties

County Jasper County, IA

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 11.2 hours before the alert went out and 279 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, Omaha, NE at 12:00Z on 1986-03-18Temperature 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, Omaha, NE at 12:00Z on 1986-03-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 369 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
3569 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
369 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
373 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 
TTAA00 KDSM 182320
SVRDSM
IAC099-240000-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
514 PM CST TUE MAR 18 1986

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 600 PM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING
COUNTY OF

CENTRAL IOWA...JASPER

AT 510 PM...LARGE HAIL WAS REPORTED IN WESTERN JASPER COUNTY
NEAR COLFAX..WHICH IS ABOUT 20 MILES EAST OF DES MOINES.

THE STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR..AND WILL MOVE INTO
THE NEWTON AREA BETWEEN 530 PM AND 545 PM THIS EVENING.

REMEMBER..A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAN PRODUCE DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS
OF 60 MPH..LARGE HAIL..DEADLY LIGHTNING..AND HEAVY RAINS THAT CAN
QUICKLY FLOOD LOW LYING AREAS.

TRUETT/KS

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Mar 18, 2:44 PM CST, 2 hours 30 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
240 PM CST TUE MAR 18 1986

AT 230 PM CST...SEVERAL STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE OCCURRING IN
SOUTHWEST IOWA..FROM 10 MILES NORTH OF ATLANTIC..TO 20 MILES SOUTH
OF OMAHA/COUNCIL BLUFFS.  PEA TO MARBLE SIZE HAIL WAS ASSOCIATED
WITH MOST OF THE STORMS..ALTHOUGH AN ISOLATED REPORT OF GOLFBALL
SIZE OCCURRED JUST WEST OF ATLANTIC ABOUT 235 PM.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING ONLY SLOWLY EAST AT 10 MILES AN
HOUR.  INTENSITY WAS INCREASING.

OVER THE REMAINDER OF IOWA..ISOLATED LIGHT SHOWERS CONTINUED WITH
SOME LIGHT SNOW IN THE EXTREME NORTHWEST.  THESE SHOWERS WERE
MOVING NORTH AT 40 MILES AN HOUR.

BINGHAM
:
Special weather statement, Mar 18, 3:50 PM CST, 1 hour 24 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
345 PM CST TUE MAR 18 1986

AT 335 PM CST...AN ISOLATED STRONG THUNDERSTORM WAS IN SOUTHWEST
IOWA..10 MILES NORTHEAST OF ATLANTIC.  SMALL HAIL WAS ASSOCIATED
WITH THIS STORM.   THE STRONG STORM WAS PART OF A LARGER AREA OF
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSHOWERS OVER THE WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST
COUNTIES.   MOVEMENT WAS EAST AT 10 MILES AN HOUR.

IN ADDITION..A STRONG STORM HAD DEVELOPED IN SOUTHEAST IOWA NEAR
ALBIA..15 MILES WEST OF OTTUMWA.   MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST AT 35 MILES
AN HOUR.

OVER THE REMAINDER OF IOWA..ISOLATED LIGHT SHOWERS CONTINUED OVER
THE NORTHERN COUNTIES.  SOME SNOW WAS FALLING OVER THE EXTREME NORTH-
WEST.

SIECZYNSKI
Special weather statement, Mar 18, 4:53 PM CST, 21 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
450 PM CST TUE MAR 18 1986

      ...THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL RUMBLE ACROSS CENTRAL IOWA...

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING THROUGH CENTRAL IOWA THIS
AFTERNOON..AND MOST OF THESE STORMS WERE PRODUCING HAIL.

AT 450 PM..THE NARROW LINE OF STORMS STRETCHED FROM NEAR MARSHALLTOWN..
THROUGH THE SOUTHEAST SIDE OF DES MOINES..INTO NORTHERN WARREN COUTNY.
PEA TO MARBLE SIZED HAIL..AND OCCASIONALLY LARGER..HAS BEEN REPORTED IN
SOUTHERN DES MOINES AND IN NORTHERN WARREN COUNTY IN AND EAST OF
NORWALK.

THESE STORMS WILL CONTINUE PRODUCING SMALL HAIL AS THEY MOVE EAST
AT 10 MILES AN HOUR.

TRUETT
Special weather statement, Mar 18, 4:56 PM CST, 18 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
445 PM CST TUE MAR 18 1986

AT 435 PM CST...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE OVER CENTRAL..WEST
CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST IOWA.  SEVERAL STRONG STORMS WERE OVER THE
CENTRAL COUNTIES NEAR REDFIELD..35 MILES WEST OF DES MOINES..NEAR
NORWALK AND ALSO JUST WEST OF MARSHALLTOWN.  HAIL WAS ASSOCIATED
WITH THESE STORMS.   AT 443 PM..UP TO GOLF BALL SIZE WAS REPORTED IN
NORWALK.   THE SHOWERS AND STORMS WERE MOVING EAST AT 20 MILES AN HOUR.

IN ADDITION..SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSHOWERS WERE OVER THE SOUTH-
EAST AND EAST CENTRAL COUNTIES.  MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST AT 35 MILES AN
HOUR.

SIECZYNSKI

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Iowa, 1986Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1986

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.