Alert archive / Iowa / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1986

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 33, NWS Des Moines, IA

May 9, 1986Polk County, Iowa

NWS Des Moines, IA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 9, 1986, 5:31 PM CDT for Polk County, Iowa. It was in force for 29 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 9, 1986, 5:31 PM CDT (22:31 UTC)
Expired: May 9, 1986, 6:00 PM CDT
In force: 29 min
Issued by: NWS Des Moines, IA
Area: Whole counties

County Polk 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, 10.5 hours before the alert went out and 236 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 3593 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 52 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 214 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 246 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 092233
SVRDSM
IAC153-092300-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
531 PM CDT FRI MAY 9 1986

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

CENTRAL IOWA...EASTERN POLK

THIS WARNING INCLUDES THE CITY OF DES MOINES AND ALTOONA.

AT 528 PM GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL WAS REPORTED IN SOUTHEAST DES MOINES

AT 529 RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE STORM IN SOUTHEAST SECTION OF
DES MOINES MOVING TO THE NORTH AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.

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.

WEINBRECHT/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, May 9, 11:36 AM CDT, 5 hours 55 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WATERLOO IA
1130 AM CDT FRI MAY 9 1986

...A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS HAS MOVED INTO NORTH CENTRAL IOWA...

AT 1130 AM CDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR AT WATERLOO, IOWA
SHOWED A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS IN A NARROW BAND FROM THE
MINNESOTA BORDER NORTHEAST OF MASON CITY TO JUST WEST OF GRUNDY
CENTER, 20 MILES SOUTHWEST OF WATERLOO TO NEAR TAMA,  40 MILES SOUTH
OF WATERLOO.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS ARE PRODUCING FREQUENT LIGHTNING..HEAVY RAIN
AND GUSTY WINDS.  THESE STORMS ARE MOVING NORTH BY A LITTLE
NORTHEAST AROUND 30 MILES AN HOUR.
ROBB

Special weather statement, May 9, 2:21 PM CDT, 3 hours 10 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WATERLOO IA
215 PM CDT FRI MAY 9 1986

AT 215 PM CDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR AT WATERLOO, IOWA
SHOWED AN AREA OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSHOWERS IN NORTHEAST IOWA.
THEY WERE IN A 50 MILE WIDE BAND FROM TRAER..20 MILES SOUTH OF
WATERLOO..THEN NORTH TO THE MINNESOTA BORDER SOUTH OF ROCHESTER.

THESE THUNDERSHOWERS WERE MOVING NORTH AROUND 25 MILES AN HOUR.
PEOPLE IN NORTHEAST IOWA CAN E6XPECT THESE THUNDERSHOWERS TO PRODUCE
BRIEF HEAVY RAIN AND SOME GUSTY WINDS.  UNSTABLE AIR REMAINS OVER
MUCH OF IOWA THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING..THUS THUNDERSTORM
REDEVELOPEMENT IS LIKELY THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.
ROBB

Local storm report, May 9, 4:01 PM CDT, 1 hour 30 minutes before

SEVERE LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
400 PM CDT FRI MAY 9 1986

ADDITIONAL STORM REPORTS FROM THE SEVERE WEATHER ON MAY 8 1986

330 PM CDT...LARGE BUILDING BEING CONSTRUCTED JUST WEST OF LAKE RATHBUN
             IN APPANOOSE COUNTY WAS DESTROYED BY WIND.

350 PM CDT...SHERIFF OF MONROE COUNTY SAID TORNADO ORIGINALLY REPORTED
             2 MILES SOUTH IF ALBIA THAT TOOK ROOF OFF BUILDING WAS WIND
             DAMAGE.

403 PM CDT...LUCAS COUNTY SHERIFF SAID LIGHT POLES AND TREES WERE BLOWN
             DOWN NEAR THE TOWN OF RUSSELL WHICH IS 7 MILES EAST OF
             CHARITON.

435 PM CDT...ROOF BLOWN OFF MACHINE SHED 2 MILES SOUTHEAST OF KNOXVILLE..
             IN MARION COUNTY.  REPORT FROM COUNTY SHERIFF.
435 PM CDT...2 LARGE TREES BLOWN DOWN ON HOUSE AND BROKE POWER LINES IN
             CARLISLE..JUST SOUTHEAST OF DES MOINES.  REPORT FROM NATIONAL
             WEATHER SERVICE EMPLOYEE.

438 PM CDT...MARION COUNTY SHERIFF REPORTED SEVERAL TREES AND LARGE TREE
             LIMBS DOWN.

440 PM CDT...MARION COUNTY..PELLA POLICE REPORTED SEVERAL TREES AND POWER
             LINES DOWN.

ADAMS

The office that day

Everything else NWS Des Moines, IA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 9, 6:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Warren	28 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Iowa, 1986 Every 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.