Alert archive / Iowa / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1995

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 24, NWS Des Moines, IA

May 13, 1995Hancock County, Wright County, Iowa

NWS Des Moines, IA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 13, 1995, 1:58 PM CDT for Hancock County, Wright County, Iowa. It was in force for 32 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 13, 1995, 1:58 PM CDT (18:58 UTC)
Expired: May 13, 1995, 2:30 PM CDT
In force: 32 min
Issued by: NWS Des Moines, IA
Area: Whole counties

Counties Hancock County, IA, Wright County, IA

The radar

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 131 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:57 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Minneapolis, MN (KSTC), launched 12:00Z, 7.0 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-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: 631 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 161 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 206 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 131857
SVRDSM
IAC081-197-131930-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
158 PM CDT SAT MAY 13 1995

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  SOUTHERN HANCOCK COUNTY - NORTH CENTRAL IOWA
  NORTHERN WRIGHT COUNTY - NORTH CENTRAL IOWA

* UNTIL 230 PM CDT
 
* SOME TOWNS AFFECTED
    MORSE LAKE
    BELMOND
    CORWITH
    TWIN LAKES

* AT 155 PM CDT RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 4 MILES NORTH OF
  GOLDFIELD OR 35 NORTHEAST OF FORT DODGE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MILES
  AN HOUR.

* THE STORM WILL BE NEAR KLEMME AT 215 PM CDT.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM.  DO NOT GO OUTDOORS.




BELLES

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 13, 10:38 AM CDT, 3 hours 20 minutes before

IOWA SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IOWA
1035 AM CDT SAT MAY 13 1995

HAZARD...WIDELY SCATTERED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH LARGE HAIL...
DAMAGING WINDS AND ISOLATED TORNADOES.

AREA OF CONCERN...SOUTHEAST THIRD OF IOWA...MAINLY SOUTHEAST OF
A CHARITON...CEDAR RAPIDS...TO DUBUQUE LINE. THIS INCLUDES THE CITIES
OF CEDAR RAPIDS...OTTUMWA...FAIRFIELD AND BURLINGTON.

TIMING DETAILS...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD DEVELOP BETWEEN 1 PM AND
4 PM OVER SOUTHEAST IOWA. THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP OVER THE REST OF
EASTERN IOWA THIS AFTERNOON.

METEOROLOGICAL COMMENTS...AN INTENSE LOW PRESSURE AREA OVER NORTHERN
KANSAS WILL MOVE NORTHEAST INTO NORTHWEST IOWA BY THIS EVENING.  A
COLD FRONT WILL MOVE EAST...SOUTH OF THE LOW ACROSS IOWA TODAY REACHING
EASTERN IOWA BY THIS AFTERNOON.  A FAVORABLE WIND PROFILE SUGGESTS
THE POTENTIAL FOR SUPERCELL DEVELOPMENT AND ISOLATED TORNADOES OVER
SOUTHEAST IOWA. ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE THIS
AFTERNOON ACROSS CENTRAL INTO NORTHERN IOWA JUST AHEAD OF THE COLD
FRONT.

PRECAUTIONS...EMERGENCY MANAGERS AND OTHER INTERESTS IN SOUTHEAST IOWA
SHOULD KEEP ALERT TO CHANGING WEATHER THIS AFTERNOON.  SPOTTER
ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED. THE NEXT STATEMENT WILL BE ISSUED LATE
THIS MORNING.

SMITH

Special weather statement, May 13, 12:58 PM CDT, 1 hour before

IOWA SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IOWA
1258 PM CDT SAT MAY 13 1995

HAZARD...THUNDERSTORMS ARE NOW FORMING INTO A LINE.  SOME STORMS MAY
CONTAIN LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS AND ISOLATED TORNADOES.

AREA OF CONCERN...WEST CENTRAL INTO NORTH CENTRAL IOWA FOR THE NEXT TWO
HOURS.  CITIES IN THEIS AREA INCLUDE FORT DODGE...CLARION...ALGONA...
BOONE...ATLANTIC AND GUTHRIE CENTER.

TIMING DETAILS...THUNDERSTORMS ARE BEGINING TO DEVELOP RAPIDLY OVER THE
AREA OF CONCERN.  FOR THE NEXT TWO HOUR PERSONS IN THIS AREA NEED TO
KEEP TUNED TO THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION IN CASE A WARNING IS
ISSUED.

METEOROLOGICAL COMMENTS...A COLD FRONT WAS BEGINNING TO PUSH INTO
WESTERN IOWA AT 1245 PM.  THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO BE A THREAT
ALONG THIS FRONT AS IT PUSHES INTO CENTRAL IOWA LATE THIS AFTERNOON.
THE WIND PROFILE REMAINS FAVORABLE FOR ISOLATED TORNADOES AND DAMAGING
WINDS.  AS THE SUN CONTINUES OVER CENTRAL AND EASTERN IOWA THE
ATMOSPHERE WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY UNSTABLE OVER THE EASTERN HALF
OF THE STATE.

PRECAUTIONS...EMERGENCY MANAGERS OVER THE AREA OF CONCERN SHOULD
CONSIDER SPOTTER ACTIVATION.  CENTRAL AND EASTERN IOWA EMERGENCY
MANAGERS SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR ACTIVATION LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING.

 BELLES

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 13, 4:27 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Davis	33 min
May 13, 2:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Cerro Gordo	29 min
May 13, 2:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Cerro Gordo	30 min
May 13, 3:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Floyd	44 min
May 13, 4:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Franklin	33 min
May 13, 4:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Franklin	36 min
May 13, 4:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Wright	8 min
May 13, 5:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Butler	17 min
May 13, 5:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Floyd	32 min
May 13, 5:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Chickasaw	31 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Iowa, 1995 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1995

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.