Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 1994

Tornado Warning 14, NWS Sioux Falls, SD

July 5, 1994Woodbury County, Iowa

NWS Sioux Falls, SD issued this tornado warning at Jul 5, 1994, 10:16 PM CDT for Woodbury County, Iowa. It was in force for 29 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jul 5, 1994, 10:16 PM CDT (03:16 UTC)
Expired
Jul 5, 1994, 10:45 PM CDT
In force
29 min
Issued by
NWS Sioux Falls, SD
Area
Whole counties

County Woodbury County, IA

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 00:00Z, 3.3 hours before the alert went out and 122 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 1994-07-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 3368 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 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 1994-07-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 65 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
3368 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1281 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
65 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
108 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.8
Supercell composite
8.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KSUX 060316
TORSUX
IAC193-060345-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX CITY IA
1016 PM CDT TUE JUL 5 1994
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SIOUX CITY HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1045 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN WEST CENTRAL IOWA
 
   ...SOUTHWESTERN WOODBURY COUNTY
 
AT 1014 PM CDT A FUNNEL CLOUD WAS REPORTED 2 MILES NORTH OF HORNICK.
LITTLE MOVEMENT WAS INDICATED WITH THIS FUNNEL CLOUD. THIS STORM WILL
CONTINUE TO AFFECT THE TOWNS OF LUTON...SALIX...SLOAN AND HORNICK.
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM!!  TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY.  IF YOU ARE
IN A STRONG BUILDING GO TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.
ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET
INTO A DITCH OR DEPRESSION...COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.
 
 
HUMPHREY
&

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado 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, Jul 5, 10:06 PM CDT, 10 minutes before
SDZ068>070-060405-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
1004 PM CDT TUE JUL 5 1994

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH CONTINUED IN EFFECT UNTIL 2 AM CDT FOR
THE EXTREME SOUTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA COUNTIES ALONG THE MISSOURI RIVER...

THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING NORTHEAST ACROSS UNION COUNTY SOUTH DAKOTA
WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE WEATHER.

NO THUNDERSTORMS WERE OCCURRING FROM TYNDALL IN BON HOMME COUNTY ACROSS
YANKTON COUNTY TO VERMILLION IN CLAY COUNTY.  THE MOVEMENT OF THE
STORMS MAKES IT APPEAR PROBABLE THAT THUNDERSTORMS WILL PASS THEM
BY...BUT THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH CONTINUES FOR NOW.

UMLAND

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 5, 7:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDWoodbury46 min
Jul 5, 8:37 PM CDTTornado WarningFSDWoodbury38 min
Jul 5, 8:42 PM CDTTornado WarningFSDWoodbury33 min
Jul 5, 9:18 PM CDTTornado WarningFSDWoodbury27 min
Jul 5, 9:41 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDSioux64 min
Jul 5, 9:47 PM CDTTornado WarningFSDWoodbury28 min
Jul 5, 10:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDPlymouth47 min
Jul 5, 11:21 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDMonona, Woodbury54 min
Jul 6, 12:14 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDMonona46 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Iowa, 1994Every tornado warning in 1994Tornadoes 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.