Alert archive / Iowa / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1994

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 40, NWS Des Moines, IA

May 4, 1994Calhoun County, Iowa

NWS Des Moines, IA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 4, 1994, 5:19 PM CDT for Calhoun County, Iowa. It was in force for 33 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 4, 1994, 5:19 PM CDT (22:19 UTC)
Expired: May 4, 1994, 5:52 PM CDT
In force: 33 min
Issued by: NWS Des Moines, IA
Area: Whole counties

County Calhoun County, IA

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 186 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: 962 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 105 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 107 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 4, 3:42 PM CDT, 1 hour 37 minutes before

IAZALL-042140-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IOWA
342 PM CDT WED MAY 4 1994

AT 330 PM CDT...ISOLATED VERY STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE OCCURRING OVER
NORTHWEST IOWA.  THE STORMS WERE LOCATED IN A 25 MILE WIDE BAND THAT WAS
NORTHWEST OF A LINE FROM 20 MILES EAST OF ESTHERVILLE TO NEAR POCAHONTAS
...OR FROM 30 MILES NORTHEAST TO 30 MILES SOUTHEAST OF SPENCER.  THESE
STORMS WERE PRODUCING BRIEF HEAVY RAIN...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND HAIL.

OTHER SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED OVER SOUTHERN
AND EASTERN IOWA...GENERALLY SOUTH OF A LINE FROM AVOCA...TO INDIANOLA
...TO NEAR CEDAR RAPIDS.  AVOCA IS 25 MILES NORTHEAST OF COUNCIL BLUFFS
AND INDIANOLA IS 15 MILES SOUTH OF DES MOINES.

THE STORMS AND SHOWERS WERE MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.

KALLMAN/KAS

WWUS35KSUX-

Special weather statement, May 4, 4:30 PM CDT, 49 minutes before

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Special weather statement, May 4, 4:31 PM CDT, 48 minutes before

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Special weather statement, May 4, 4:37 PM CDT, 42 minutes before

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Special weather statement, May 4, 5:13 PM CDT, 6 minutes before

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Special weather statement, May 4, 5:14 PM CDT, 5 minutes before

IAC003-025-073-173-187-042315-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
513 PM CDT WED MAY 4 1994

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS MOVING ACROSS CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST IOWA THIS
EVENING...

AT 507 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED STRONG
THUNDERSTORMS 35 MILES WEST OF FORT DODGE...NEAR THE TOWN OF POMEROY AND
JOLLEY. THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH AND WILL BE
AFFECTING THE TOWNS OF ROCKWELL CITY BY 530 PM AND FARNHAMVILLE BY 6 PM.
THE STORMS ARE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LARGE HAIL AND BRIEF HEAVY RAINS AS
THEY MOVE ACROSS CALHOUN COUNTY DURING THE NEXT HOUR.

IN ADDITION...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE OCCURRING OVER SOUTHWEST IOWA
JUST SOUTH OF THE TOWN OF MOUNT ETNA IN NORTHERN ADAMS COUNTY...OR ABOUT
65 MILES SOUTHWEST OF DES MOINES. HEAVY RAINS AND HAIL ARE ALSO POSSIBLE
WITH THIS STORM AS IT TRACKS SOUTHEAST TOWARDS THE TOWNS OF PRESCOT BY
530 PM AND CORNING BY 545 PM CDT THI.S WEDNESDAY EVENING.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR WEST CENTRAL AND
SOUTHWEST IOWA UNTIL 10 PM THIS EVENING.

SMITH

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 4, 3:13 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Emmet	32 min
May 4, 3:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Clay	39 min
May 4, 3:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Pocahontas	36 min
May 4, 3:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Buena Vista	48 min
May 4, 6:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Guthrie	29 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Iowa, 1994 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1994

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.