Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 1995

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Des Moines, IA

May 9, 1995Pocahontas County, Iowa

NWS Des Moines, IA issued this tornado warning at May 9, 1995, 2:50 PM CDT for Pocahontas County, Iowa. It was in force for 30 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 9, 1995, 2:50 PM CDT (19:50 UTC)
Expired
May 9, 1995, 3:20 PM CDT
In force
30 min
Issued by
NWS Des Moines, IA
Area
Whole counties

County Pocahontas County, IA

The radar

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 137 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:49 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

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 210 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 12:00Z on 1995-05-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 704 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 12:00Z on 1995-05-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 77 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
704 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-15 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
560 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
77 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
59 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 091951
TORDSM
IAC151-092020-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
250 PM CDT TUE MAY 9 1995

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  POCAHONTAS COUNTY - NORTHWEST IOWA

* UNTIL 320 PM CDT
 
* SOME TOWNS AFFECTED
    POCAHONTAS
    LAURENS
    HAVELOCK

* AT 250 PM LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTED A TORNADO WEST OF POCAHONTAS
  OR 35 MILES NORTHWEST OF FORT DODGE MOVING NORTHWEST AT 25 MPH.

* THE STORM WILL BE THROUGH LAURENS BY 315 PM.

IF YOU ARE NEAR THIS DANGEROUS STORM...TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY IN THE
LOWEST FLOOR AND INNER MOST ROOM OF A BUILDING.

JOHNSON

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 9, 1:37 PM CDTTornado WarningDMXCarroll22 min
May 9, 2:49 PM CDTTornado WarningDMXStory31 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Iowa, 1995Every tornado warning in 1995Tornadoes 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.