Alert archive / Iowa / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1990

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 167, NWS Des Moines, IA

August 19, 1990Hancock County, Wright County, Iowa

NWS Des Moines, IA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 19, 1990, 5:53 PM CDT for Hancock County, Wright County, Iowa. It was in force for 27 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Aug 19, 1990, 5:53 PM CDT (22:53 UTC)
Expired: Aug 19, 1990, 6:20 PM CDT
In force: 27 min
Issued by: NWS Des Moines, IA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Hancock County, IA, Wright 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, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 280 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: 3642 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 23 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 84 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KDSM 192257 COR
SVRDSM
IAC197-081-192330-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED...CORRECTION
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
553 PM CDT SUN AUG 19 1990
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DES MOINES HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  630 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL IOWA
          ...NORTHERN WRIGHT  AND HANCOCK
 
AT 554 PM CDT...WEATHER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ABOUT 25
MILES SOUTHWEST OF MASON CITY OR NEAR THE TOWN BELMOND. THIS STORM
WILL BE AFFECTING THE TOWN OF BELMOND AND NEARBY COMMUNITIES.
 
THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.
 
THIS STORM IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING STRONG GUSTY WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60
MILES AN HOUR...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND HAIL.  PEOPLE IN THE PATH OF
THIS STORM SHOULD SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.
 
MCQUIRTER

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, Aug 19, 4:23 PM CDT, 1 hour 30 minutes before

IAZ010-192215-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
420 PM CDT SUN AUG 18 1990

THUNDERSTORMS HAD DEVEOLOPED JUST TO THE WEST AND NORTH OF DES MOINES.
AT 415 PM...THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED OVER THE WESTERN AND
NORTHERN SUBURBS.  THE STORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.
BRIEF HEAVY RAINS AND WIND GUSTS OF 30 TO 40 MILES WILL OCCUR WITH
THUNDERSTORMS.

THE SOUTHERN AND EASTERN SECTIONS OF THE METRO AREA WILL ESCAPE MOST
OF THE RAIN FROM THESE STORMS.  HOWEVER...THE ATMOSPHERE IS RIPE FOR
THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT AND STORMS MAY POP UP JUST ABOUT ANYWHERE IN
CENTRAL IOWA DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS.

DLF

Special weather statement, Aug 19, 5:40 PM CDT, 13 minutes before

IAZALL-192330-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
535 PM CDT SUN AUG 18 1990

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR A LARGE PART OF IOWA
UNTIL 10 PM...

WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE OVER ALL BUT THE SOUTH
CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST COUNTIES.   AT 530 PM...THE PRECIPITATION WAS
NORTH OF A LINE FROM THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF THE STATE TO DES MOINES TO
DAVENPORT.   THE LARGEST STOdRM WAS LOCATED SOUTHWEST OF CEDAR RAPIDS
NEAR WILLIAMSBURG.

THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MILES AN
HOUR.

DLF

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 18, 8:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Emmet, Palo Alto	21 min
Aug 18, 9:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Kossuth, Palo Alto	41 min
Aug 19, 4:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Boone, Polk, Story	29 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Iowa, 1990 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1990

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.