Alert archive / Iowa / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1990

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 5, NWS Quad Cities, IA

March 13, 1990Cedar County, Iowa

NWS Quad Cities, IA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 13, 1990, 12:39 AM CST for Cedar County, Iowa. It was in force for 31 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: Mar 13, 1990, 12:39 AM CST (06:39 UTC)
Expired: Mar 13, 1990, 1:10 AM CST
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Quad Cities, IA
Area: Whole counties

County Cedar 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
Mar 13, 12:50 AM CST	Hail 1.25	Cedar, 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

Green Bay/Straub, WI (KGRB), launched 00:00Z, 6.7 hours before the alert went out and 389 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: 1484 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 174 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 223 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 KMLI 130639
SVRMLI
IAC031-130715-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOLINE IL
1239 AM CST TUE MAR 13 1990

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 115 AM CST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING 
COUNTY

   IN THE EXTREME EAST PART OF IOWA
      CEDAR

AT 1235 AM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM 45 MILES WEST OF MOLINE NEAR WEST LIBERTY.  THIS
THUNDERSTORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MILES AN HOUR.

SOME CITIES/TOWNS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE... ROCHESTER
CEDAR VALLEY, TIPTON

FOR YOUR PROTECTION GO TO A SAFE PLACE IMMEDIATELY.  STAY INDOORS
AND AVOID WINDOWS.  IF OUTDOORS...DO NOT STAND UNDER A TREE OR IN
OPEN AREAS SUCH AS A FIELD.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAN PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND OF 60 MPH OR MORE...
LARGE HAIL...FREQUENT DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND HEAVY RAIN.

IF TIME PERMITS...ASK THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY TO RELAY
YOUR REPORT OF SEVERE WEATHER TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.

ATTN ISP 7 AND 1

LAGUE

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 12, 11:38 PM CST, 1 hour 1 minute before

IAZ015-130630-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MOLINE IL
1240 PM CST MON MAR 12 1990

...THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN MOVING THROUGH SOUTHEAST IOWA...

AT 1135 PM CST A CLUSTER OF THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN WAS OVER
SOUTHEAST IOWA.  THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED FROM 35 MILES
SOUTHWEST OF BURLINGTON IOWA TO ABOUT 10 MILES WEST OF BURLINGTON.

THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MILES AN HOUR.

PERSONS IN WESTERN LEE...DES MOINES AND SOUTHEAST HENRY COUNTIES OF
SOUTHEAST IOWA CAN EXPECT PERIODS OF HEAVY RAIN AND POSSIBLY PEA TO
MARBLE SIZE HAIL AS THESE STORMS MOVE THROUGH.

PHILLIPS

The office that day

Everything else NWS Quad Cities, IA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 13, 1:40 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Clinton	20 min
Mar 13, 1:58 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Clinton	32 min
Mar 13, 2:10 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Jones	50 min
Mar 13, 3:45 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Scott	45 min
Mar 13, 4:26 PM CST	Tornado Warning	DVN	Scott	34 min
Mar 13, 4:59 PM CST	Tornado Warning	DVN	Clinton, Scott	31 min
Mar 13, 5:01 PM CST	Tornado Warning	DVN	Delaware	29 min
Mar 13, 5:09 PM CST	Tornado Warning	DVN	Dubuque, Jones	36 min
Mar 13, 5:25 PM CST	Tornado Warning	DVN	Dubuque	35 min
Mar 13, 5:31 PM CST	Tornado Warning	DVN	Clinton	29 min
Mar 13, 5:37 PM CST	Tornado Warning	DVN	Delaware	38 min
Mar 13, 5:39 PM CST	Tornado Warning	DVN	Cedar, Muscatine	36 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.