Alert archive / Iowa / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1988

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 6, NWS Des Moines, IA

March 24, 1988Winneshiek County, Iowa

NWS Des Moines, IA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 24, 1988, 6:07 PM CST for Winneshiek County, Iowa. It was in force for 38 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Mar 24, 1988, 6:07 PM CST (00:07 UTC)
Expired: Mar 24, 1988, 6:45 PM CST
In force: 38 min
Issued by: NWS Des Moines, IA
Area: Whole counties

County Winneshiek 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

Minneapolis, MN (KSTC), launched 00:00Z, 0.1 hours before the alert went out and 223 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: 620 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 65 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -235 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 55 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, Mar 24, 2:34 PM CST, 3 hours 33 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
230 PM CST THU MAR 24 1988

A TORNADO WATCH CONTINUES FOR A LARGE PORTION OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN
IOWA UNTIL 600 PM THIS EVENING...

AT 220 PM...
A LINE OF VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS STRETCHED FROM JUST WEST OF MASON
CITY TO SOUTH THROUGH BOONE CENTRAL IOWA TO 20 MILES WEST OF LAMONI.

THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING EAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.

THE STRONGEST STORM WAS LOCATED NEAR AFTON WHICH IS ABOUT 30 MILES SOUTH
OF DES MOINES.

VERY HEAVY RAINS...PEA SIZE HAIL...AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 MILES AN HOUR
WERE REPORTED AT BOONE BETWEEN 200-220 PM THIS AFTERNOON.

NO SEVERE WEATHER HAS BEEN REPORTED IN IOWA SINCE 100 PM.

MCQUIRTER/SCOTT

Special weather statement, Mar 24, 3:02 PM CST, 3 hours 5 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
300 PM CST THU MAR 24 1988

TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 21 IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT FOR THE FOLLOWING
COUNTIES...

KOSSUTH             WINNEBAGO            HANCOCK
HUMBOLDT            WRIGHT               WEBSTER
HAMILTON            GREENE               BOONE
GUTHRIE             DALLAS               ADAIR
MADISON             UNION                RINGGOLD

THE THUNDERSTORMS HAV<E MOVED TO THE EAST OF THESE AREAS AND ONLY
SHOWERS CAN BE EXECTED THE NEXT FEW HOURS.

THE TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT GENERALLY EAST OF A LINE FROM
MASON CITY TO DES MOINES AND LAMONI UNTIL 6PM CST.

ADAMS

Special weather statement, Mar 24, 3:19 PM CST, 2 hours 48 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Mar 24, 4:12 PM CST, 1 hour 55 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Mar 24, 4:42 PM CST, 1 hour 25 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Mar 24, 5:08 PM CST, 59 minutes before

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Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Iowa, 1988 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1988

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.