Alert archive / Iowa / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1988

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 3, NWS Sioux Falls, SD

May 8, 1988O'Brien County, Iowa

NWS Sioux Falls, SD issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 8, 1988, 12:04 AM CDT for O'Brien County, Iowa. It was in force for 56 min. 1 report 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 8, 1988, 12:04 AM CDT (05:04 UTC)
Expired: May 8, 1988, 1:00 AM CDT
In force: 56 min
Issued by: NWS Sioux Falls, SD
Area: Whole counties

County O'Brien 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 8, 12:38 AM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 70	O'Brien, 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, 5.1 hours before the alert went out and 206 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: 3512 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 123 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 185 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 7, 7:46 PM CDT, 4 hours 18 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX CITY IA
738 PM CDT SAT MAY 7 1988

...INTENSE THUNDERSHOWERS MOVING INTO THE SIOUXLAND AREA...

AT 735 PM CDT RADAR SHOWED A LINE OF INTENSE THUNDERSHOWERS LOCATED
FROM LINCOLN NEBRASKA TO 5 MILES EAST OF STORM LAKE IOWA. THE STRONGEST
STORMS. WERE ENTERING THE SOUTHERN PART OF MONONA COUNTY NEAR BLENCOE
IOWA 45  MILES SOUTHEAST OF SIOUX CITY.

THESE STORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MILES AN HOUR. PERSONS IN THE
SOUTHERN PART OF MONONA COUNTY SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THESES STORMS.

THESE RAPIDLY MOVING THUNDERSTORMS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE SMALL
HAIL, HEAVY RAIN...VERY STRONG WIND GUSTS...AND DEADLY LIGHTNING.

TANNER

Special weather statement, May 7, 8:20 PM CDT, 3 hours 44 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX CITY IA
815 PM CDT SAT MAY 7 1988

...INTENSE THUNDERSHOWERS MOVING INTO MONONA COUNTY...

AT 815 PM CDT RADAR SHOWED A LINE OF INTENSE THUNDERSHOWERS LOCATED
FROM LINCOLN NEBRASKA TO NEAR FORT DODGE IOWA. STRONG THUNDERSTORMS
WERE ENTERING THE SOUTHERN PART OF MONONA COUNTY NEAR BLENCOE IOWA
45 MILES SOUTHEAST OF SIOUX CITY.

THESE STORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MILES AN HOUR. PERSONS IN THE
SOUTHERN PART OF MONONA COUNTY SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THESES STORMS.

THESE RAPIDLY MOVING THUNDERSTORMS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE SMALL
HAIL...HEAVY RAIN...AND DEADLY LIGHTNING.

TANNER

Special weather statement, May 7, 9:04 PM CDT, 3 hours before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX CITY IA
9 PM CDT SAT MAY 7 1988

...STRONG THUNDERSHOWERS MOVING INTO SIOUXLAND AREA...

AT 9 PM CDT RADAR SHOWED AN AREA OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS MOVING INTO
THE SIOUXLAND AREA. THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING INTO THE
NORTHWEST PART OF MONONA COUNTY AND SOUTHWEST PART OF WOODBURY COUNTY.
PERSONS IN THE TOWNS OF SALIX AND SLOAN SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR
THESES STRONG STORMS.

TH1ESE STORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 40 MILES AN HOUR.

THESE RAPIDLY MOVING THUNDERSTORMS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE SMALL
HAIL...HEAVY RAIN...AND DEADLY LIGHTNING.

TANNER

Special weather statement, May 7, 10:09 PM CDT, 1 hour 55 minutes before

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Special weather statement, May 7, 11:07 PM CDT, 57 minutes before

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<head>
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  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
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<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
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        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
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Special weather statement, May 7, 11:34 PM CDT, 30 minutes before

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<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
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The office that day

Everything else NWS Sioux Falls, SD issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 7, 9:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Woodbury	26 min
May 8, 12:07 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Sioux	38 min
May 8, 12:22 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Lyon, Osceola, Sioux	53 min
May 8, 12:44 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Woodbury	46 min
May 8, 12:44 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Cottonwood, Jackson	41 min

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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.