Alert archive / Iowa / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1989

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 65, NWS Des Moines, IA

May 24, 19894 counties in Iowa

NWS Des Moines, IA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 24, 1989, 2:33 AM CDT for 4 counties in Iowa. It was in force for 57 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 24, 1989, 2:33 AM CDT (07:33 UTC)
Expired
May 24, 1989, 3:30 AM CDT
In force
57 min
Issued by
NWS Des Moines, IA
Area
Whole counties

Counties Dallas County, IA, Madison County, IA, Polk County, IA, Warren 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 00:00Z, 7.6 hours before the alert went out and 216 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 00:00Z on 1989-05-24Temperature 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 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 00:00Z on 1989-05-24The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 47 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
3566 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
47 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
256 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 24, 12:47 AM CDT, 1 hour 46 minutes before
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Special weather statement, May 24, 1:13 AM CDT, 1 hour 20 minutes before
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Special weather statement, May 24, 1:43 AM CDT, 50 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
140 AM CDT WED MAY 24 1989

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 309 IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT FOR THESE
COUNTIES IN NORTH AND NORTHWEST IOWA...

KOSSUTH...CALHOUN...SAC

CORBETT
Special weather statement, May 24, 1:47 AM CDT, 46 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
147 AM CDT WED MAY 24 1989

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH TILL 3AM WEDNESDAY MORNING FOR A LARGE
PART OF THE WESTERN HALF OF IOWA...

AT 125 AM...THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING MARBLE SIZE HAIL...HEAVY RAINS...
AND 50 MILE AN HOUR WINDS WERE INDICATED OVER WEST CENTRAL...CENTRAL
...AND NORTHEAST IOWA.  THE LEADING EDGE OF THESE STRONG STORMS WAS
FROM 50 MILES NORTHEAST OF COUNCIL BLUFFS...NEAR MANILLA...TO 5 MILES
NORTH OF DES MOINES...TO THE NEWTON AREA...30 MILES EAST OF DES MOINES.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR.

ALSO...NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUED OVER A
LARGE PART OF NORTH CENTRAL...NORTHEAST...AND EAST CENTRAL IOWA...
SPREADING INTO SOUTHEAST IOWA.  THESE SHOWERS WERE GENERALLY NORTH
OF A LINE FROM AUDUBON...60 MILES WEST OF DES MOINES...TO DES MOINES
...TO THE IOWA CITY AREA.

THESE SHOWERS WERE MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 30 MILES AN HOUR.

DM
Special weather statement, May 24, 1:51 AM CDT, 42 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
150 AM CDT WED MAY 24 1989

...THUNDERSTORMS ENTERING THE DES MOINES METRO AREA...

AT 150 AM...A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE INTO THE DES MOINES
METRO AREA BETWEEN 200 AM AND 230 AM THIS MORNING.

HEAVY RAINS...SMALL HAIL AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MILES AN HOUR
CAN BE EXPECTED WITH SOME OF THESE STORMS.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR MOST OF CENTRAL
IOWA UNTIL 300 AM THIS MORNING.

MCQUIRTER
Special weather statement, May 24, 2:01 AM CDT, 32 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WATERLOO IA
155 AM CDT WED MAY 24 1989

...THUNDERSTORMS MOVING INTO THE WATERLOO/CEDAR FALLS AREA...

AT 155 AM CDT WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS
WERE MOVING INTO THE WATERLOO/CEDAR FALLS METROPOLITAN AREA. THESE
STORMS WERE PART OF A LARGER AREA OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THAT
WAS MAINLY SOUTHEAST OF A LINE FROM HAMPTON TO CHARLES CITY AND ON
TO DECORAH.

HEAVY RAIN...SMALL HAIL...STRONG WINDS...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING
ARE POSSIBLE WITH THESE STORMS AS THEY CONTINUE TO MOVE EAST SOUTHEAST
AT 20 TO 30 MPH.

HEITKAMP

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 23, 8:34 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXDickinson41 min
May 23, 9:04 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXClay41 min
May 23, 9:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXBuena Vista, Palo Alto, Pocahontas60 min
May 23, 10:25 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXBuena Vista, Calhoun, Pocahontas, Sac80 min
May 23, 11:20 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXCarroll, Crawford70 min
May 23, 11:29 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXWebster46 min
May 23, 11:35 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXWebster40 min
May 24, 12:17 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXBoone, Story58 min
May 24, 12:34 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXAudubon, Carroll, Greene, Guthrie56 min
May 24, 12:37 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXCrawford, Sac53 min
May 24, 12:56 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXCarroll34 min
May 24, 1:35 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXCarroll, Greene, Guthrie40 min
May 24, 1:51 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXJasper39 min
May 24, 2:04 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXDallas26 min
May 24, 2:15 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXMarion30 min
May 24, 2:30 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXJasper, Mahaska, Poweshiek45 min
May 24, 3:01 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXKeokuk, Wapello29 min
May 24, 3:19 AM CDTTornado WarningDMXLucas, Warren41 min
May 24, 3:49 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXBuchanan, Fayette56 min
May 24, 4:04 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXJasper, Polk56 min
May 24, 4:52 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXMahaska, Marion53 min
May 24, 5:25 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXAdams, Cass50 min
May 24, 5:49 PM CDTTornado WarningDMXAdams26 min
May 24, 6:02 PM CDTTornado WarningDMXUnion58 min
May 24, 6:10 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXHamilton50 min
May 24, 6:24 PM CDTTornado WarningDMXAdams16 min
May 24, 6:32 PM CDTTornado WarningDMXHamilton41 min
May 24, 6:50 PM CDTTornado WarningDMXRinggold, Union55 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Iowa, 1989Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1989

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.