Alert archive / Iowa / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1986
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 41, NWS Des Moines, IA
NWS Des Moines, IA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 12, 1986, 5:50 PM CDT for Clay County, Dickinson County, Iowa. It was in force for 40 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.
The facts
- Issued
- May 12, 1986, 5:50 PM CDT (22:50 UTC)
- Expired
- May 12, 1986, 6:30 PM CDT
- In force
- 40 min
- Issued by
- NWS Des Moines, IA
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Clay County, IA, Dickinson County, IA
The radar
The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 12, 6:20 PM CDT | Hail 1 | Clay, IA | |
| May 12, 6:25 PM CDT | Hail 0.75 | Clay, IA |
NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in. Storm Data before 1996 records only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail.
The nearest sounding before it
Minneapolis, MN (KSTC), launched 12:00Z, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 219 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
- 62 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -206 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 776 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 20 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 134 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 93 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KDSM 122252 SVRDSM IAC041-059-122330- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 550 PM CDT MON MAY 12 1986 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 630 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES OF NORTHWEST IOWA...CLAY AND SOUTHERN DICKINSON THIS WARNING INCLUDES THE CITIES OF SPENCER..LANGDON AND EVERLY. AT 545 PM RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE STORM IN SOUTHWEST DICKINSON COUNTY AND THAT THE STORM WAS BUILDING INTO NORTHWEST CLAY COUNTY. THE STORM WAS MOVING TO THE EAST AT 15 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
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 12, 3:41 PM CDT, 2 hours 9 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 340 PM CDT MON MAY 12 1986 ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR PART OF NORTHERN IOWA UNTIL 9PM... AS OF 330 PM THERE WERE NO THUNDERSTORMS IN IOWA. HOWEVER A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED IN EXTREME SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA BUT WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MILES AN HOUR. THAT STORM POSES NO THREAT TO IOWA BUT THUNDERSTORMS COULD DEVELOP AT ANY TIME IN NORTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL PARTS OF THE STATE. OBRIEN
The office that day
Everything else NWS Des Moines, IA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 12, 4:35 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Dickinson | 40 min |
| May 12, 5:15 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Dickinson | 30 min |
| May 12, 6:31 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Buena Vista, Clay | 24 min |
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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.