Alert archive / Iowa / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1987

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 37, NWS Des Moines, IA

May 31, 1987Adams County, Iowa

NWS Des Moines, IA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 31, 1987, 3:13 PM CDT for Adams County, Iowa. It was in force for 17 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 31, 1987, 3:13 PM CDT (20:13 UTC)
Expired
May 31, 1987, 3:30 PM CDT
In force
17 min
Issued by
NWS Des Moines, IA
Area
Whole counties

County Adams 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, 8.2 hours before the alert went out and 144 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 1987-05-31Temperature 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 1987-05-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 69 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
3577 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
69 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
64 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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 31, 2:41 PM CDT, 32 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
240 PM CDT SUN MAY 31 1987

....A SSVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR PART OF EASTERN IOWA
UNTIL 900 PM TONIGHT...

AT 230 PM...ISOLATED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE OCCURRING OVER SOUTHEAST
...SOUTHWEST...AND WEST CENTRAL IOWA.  THESE STORMS WERE LOCATED 20
MILES SOUTHWEST OF OTTUMWA...40 MILES NORTHWEST OF LAMONI...AND NEAR
GUTHRIE CENTER...WHICH IS 40 MILES WEST OF DES MOINES.

THESE STORMS WERE MOVING EAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.

ALSO...ISOLATED THUNDERSHOWERS AND RAINSHOWERS WERE OVER PARTS OF
SOUTHWEST AND SOUTHEAST IOWA.

THE AREA OF SHOWERS WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MILES AN HOUR.

MILLER

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 31, 3:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXUnion34 min
May 31, 4:00 PM CDTTornado WarningDMXAudubon, Cass60 min
May 31, 4:22 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXGuthrie38 min
May 31, 4:31 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXDallas24 min
May 31, 5:01 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXDallas, Guthrie59 min
May 31, 5:19 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXClarke, Ringgold, Union41 min
May 31, 5:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXClarke, Lucas38 min
May 31, 6:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXLucas47 min
May 31, 6:25 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXAppanoose, Monroe50 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.