Alert archive / Iowa / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1987
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 29, NWS Des Moines, IA
NWS Des Moines, IA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 26, 1987, 6:35 PM CDT for Polk County, Iowa. It was in force for 50 min.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- May 26, 1987, 6:35 PM CDT (23:35 UTC)
- Expired
- May 26, 1987, 7:25 PM CDT
- In force
- 50 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
Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 12:00Z, 11.6 hours before the alert went out and 346 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
- 1764 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -45 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 645 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 27 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 208 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 137 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.8
- Supercell composite
- 4.9
The text
The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.
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 26, 12:56 PM CDT, 5 hours 39 minutes before
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</html>Special weather statement, May 26, 1:50 PM CDT, 4 hours 45 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 145 PM CDT TUE MAY 26 1987 ...A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR EXTREME NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL IOWA UNTIL 7 PM THIS EVENING... ...A FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE WESTERN THIRD OF IOWA TODAY AND TONIGHT... ....NO SEVERE WEATHER HAS BEEN OBSERVED OR REPORTED IN IOWA BETWEEEN 100 AND 145 PM... AT 135 PM...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS...PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAINS WERE LOCATED OVER SOUTH CENTRAL...AND PARTS OF SOUTHEAST IOWA. THE STRONGEST STORMS WERE BETWEEN CENTERVILLE AND OTTUMWA. BOATERS AND CAMPERS IN THE RATHBUN LAKE...AND STEPHENS FOREST SHOULD SEEK SAFE HARBOR OR SHELTER IMMEDIATELY. ANOTHER STRONG THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED ABOUT 15 MILES NORTH OF COUNCIL BLUFFS. THESE STORMS ARE CAPABLE PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAINS AND POSSIBLE HAIL WITH THEIR PASSAGE. WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSHOWERS CONTINUED OVER PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST IOWA. THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR WITH AN INCREASE IN COVERAGE AND INTENSITY. BARLOW/MCQUIRTER
Special weather statement, May 26, 2:44 PM CDT, 3 hours 51 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 245 PM CDT TUE MAY 26 1987 ...A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR EXTREME NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL IOWA UNTIL 7 PM THIS EVENING... ...A FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE WESTERN THIRD OF IOWA FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... ....NO SEVERE WEATHER HAS BEEN OBSERVED OR REPORTED IN IOWA BETWEEEN 145 AND 245 PM... AT 235 PM...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS...PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAINS AND POSSIBLY SOME HAIL WERE LOCATED OVER SOUTHEAST IOWA. THE STRONGEST STORM WAS LOCATED JUST EAST OF SIGOURNEY...WHICH IS 25 MILES NORTHEAST OF OTTUMWA. WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUED OVER PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL ...WEST CENTRAL...AND NORTHWEST IOWA. / THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR. BARLOW/MCQUIRTER
Special weather statement, May 26, 3:51 PM CDT, 2 hours 44 minutes before
<PQ< SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 400 PM CDT TUE MAY 26 1987 THE TORNADO WATCH HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR PARTS OF EXTREME NORTHWEST IOWA... HOWEVER PARTS OF WEST CENTRAL IOWA REMAIN IN THE WATCH UNTIL 7 PM CDT. COUNTIES CLEARED AND NO LONGER IN THE WATCH ARE... ...NORTHWEST... CHEROKEE O BRIEN PLYMOUTH SIOUX ...WEST CENTRAL... IDA MONONA WOODBURY U IOWA COUNTIES THAT REMAIN IN THE WATCH INCLUDE POTTAWATIAMIE MILLS AND HARRISON. AND SOME ADJACEANT AREAS OF NEBRASKA. FORSTER
Special weather statement, May 26, 3:53 PM CDT, 2 hours 42 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 340 PM CDT TUE MAY 26 1987 ...A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE OMAHA/COUNCIL BLUFFS AREA UNTIL 7 PM THIS EVENING... ...A FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE WESTERN THIRD OF IOWA FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... ....NO SEVERE WEATHER HAS BEEN OBSERVED OR REPORTED IN IOWA BETWEEEN 245 AND 340 PM... AT 330 PM...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED OVER EAST CENTRAL IOWA IN SOUTHERN MUSCATINE COUNTY 30 MILES SOUTHWEST OF THE QUAD CITIES. 1/2 INCH HAIL ALONG WITH WIND GUSTS OF 50 MILES AN HOUR HAVE BEEN REPORTED WITH THIS STORM. OTHER STRONG STORMS WERE LOCATED OVER SOUTH CENTRAL IOWA...NEAR LAKE RATHBUN 55 MILES SOUTHEAST OF DES MOINES. OTHER STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED ALONG THE IOWA/NEBRASKA BORDER JUST SOUTH OF THE OMAHA/COUNCIL BLUFFS AREA. VERY HEAVY RAIN ALONG WITH DANGEROUS LIGHTNING CAN BE EXPECTED WITH THESE ST[ORMS. THE SHOWERS AND STORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR. BARLOW/MCQUIRTER
Special weather statement, May 26, 6:33 PM CDT, 2 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 630 PM CDT TUE MAY 26 1987 ....STRONG THUNDERSTORMS IN POLK COUNTY... AT 625 PM...RADAR SHOWED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS MOVING NORTHEAS T INTO THE EASTERN PART OF POLK COUNTY. THESE STORMS WILL BE IN POLK COUNTY AT LEAST UNTIL 700 PM CDT AND WILL PRODUCE SOME GUSTY WINDS... BRIEF HEAVY RAIN...AND POSSIBLY SOME SMALL HAIL. HAHN
The office that day
Everything else NWS Des Moines, IA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 26, 5:56 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Dallas | 49 min |
| May 26, 6:17 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Webster | 48 min |
| May 26, 6:17 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Boone | 28 min |
| May 26, 6:47 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Hamilton, Story | 53 min |
| May 26, 6:49 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Appanoose | 41 min |
| May 26, 6:51 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Warren | 49 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Iowa, 1987Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1987
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.