Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 1986

Tornado Warning 6, NWS Des Moines, IA

May 9, 1986Dallas County, Polk County, Iowa

NWS Des Moines, IA issued this tornado warning at May 9, 1986, 7:45 PM CDT for Dallas County, Polk County, Iowa. It was in force for 30 min. 5 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 9, 1986, 7:45 PM CDT (00:45 UTC)
Expired: May 9, 1986, 8:15 PM CDT
In force: 30 min
Issued by: NWS Des Moines, IA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Dallas County, IA, Polk 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
May 9, 7:48 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Dallas, IA
May 9, 7:55 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Dallas, IA
May 9, 8:09 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Dallas, IA
May 9, 8:09 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Polk, IA
May 9, 8:12 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Dallas, 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

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 00:00Z, 0.8 hours before the alert went out and 217 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: 3570 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 72 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 110 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 100046
TORDSM
IAC153-049-100115-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
745 PM CDT FRI MAY 9 1986

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 815 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES OF

CENTRAL IOWA...WESTERN POLK AND EASTERN DALLAS

THIS WARNING INCLUDES WEST DES MOINES..WAUKEE AND GRIMES.

A FUNNEL CLOUD WAS REPORTED BY AN OBSERVER AT 741 PM JUST NORTH
OF ASHWORTH ROAD ABOUT 2 MILES WEST OF INTERSTATE 35.

AT 742 PM CDT RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE STORM ALONG THE DALLAS
POLK COUNTY LINE MOVING TO THE NORTH AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.

IF A TORNADO APPROACHES..TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY.  A BASEMENT..
INTERIOR HALLWAY..OR A ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR IS THE SAFEST PLACE
IN MOST BUILDINGS.  IF YOU ARE IN A MOBILE HOME OR AN AUTOMOBILE..
LEAVE AT ONCE.  TAKE COVER IN A STORM SHELTER..OR LIE IN A NEARBY
DITCH OR DEPRESSION.

DOWD/KS
R

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado 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, 2:21 PM CDT, 5 hours 24 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, 3 hours 44 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

Special weather statement, May 9, 6:47 PM CDT, 58 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
647 PM CDT FRI MAY 9 1986

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR A LARGE PART OF IOWA
UNTIL MIDNIGHT...

NO SEVERE WEATHER WAS REPORTED IN THE STATE BETWEEN 545 AND 645 PM CDT

AT 631 PM CDT...
VERY STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE SCATTERED OVER CENTRAL IOWA.  THE MOST
INTENSE STORMS WERE LOCATED ABOUT 15 MILES NORTHEAST AND 10 MILES EAST
OF DES MOINES.  THESE STORMS WERE PRODUCING PEA TO MARBLE SIZE HAIL AND
VERY HEAVY RAIN.

MEANWHILE..STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING INTO IOWAS SOUTH CENTRAL
COUNTIES BETWEEN LAMONI AND CENTERVILLE.

IN ADDITION..WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSHOWERS DOT THE NORTH
CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST COUNTIES OF THE STATE.
\
ALL OF THE RAIN WAS MOVING NORTH AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.

SCHUMACHER/SIECZYNSKI

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 9, 7:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Dallas, Polk	21 min
May 9, 7:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Dallas, Polk	30 min
May 9, 7:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Webster	37 min
May 9, 7:58 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Webster	32 min
May 9, 8:16 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Dallas, Polk	44 min
May 9, 8:29 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	DMX	Dallas, Polk	3 hr
May 9, 8:47 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Boone	43 min
May 9, 9:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Dallas, Polk	28 min
May 9, 10:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Ringgold, Taylor	22 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Iowa, 1986 Every tornado warning in 1986 Tornadoes 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.