Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Des Moines, IA

May 9, 1996Decatur County, Iowa

NWS Des Moines, IA issued this tornado warning at May 9, 1996, 6:17 AM CDT for Decatur County, Iowa. It was in force for 33 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 9, 1996, 6:17 AM CDT (11:17 UTC)
Expired: May 9, 1996, 6:50 AM CDT
In force: 33 min
Issued by: NWS Des Moines, IA
Area: Whole counties

County Decatur County, IA

The radar

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 111 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 11:18 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 00:00Z, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 226 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: 1091 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -45 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 739 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 55 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 94 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 84 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KDSM 091118
TORDSM
IAC053-091150-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
617 AM CDT THU MAY 9 1996

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  NORTHEASTERN DECATUR COUNTY - SOUTH CENTRAL IOWA

* UNTIL 650 AM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    LE ROY
    GARDEN GROVE
    RURAL COUNTRYSIDE

* AT 620 AM CDT RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 20 MILES NORTHEAST OF
  LAMONI OR 55 MILES SOUTH OF DES MOINES MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH.

* THE STORM WILL BE NEAR LE ROY BY 640 AM.

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

MYERS

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 8, 9:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Adams	30 min
May 8, 10:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Adair, Union	31 min
May 8, 10:49 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Union	31 min
May 8, 11:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Dallas	29 min
May 8, 11:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Polk, Warren	35 min
May 9, 12:06 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Davis	34 min
May 9, 12:53 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Clarke, Lucas	32 min
May 9, 5:55 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Decatur	30 min
May 9, 6:35 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Wayne	30 min
May 9, 10:08 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Decatur	32 min
May 9, 10:55 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Wayne	30 min
May 9, 11:21 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Appanoose	34 min
May 9, 11:56 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Davis	34 min
May 9, 12:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Wayne	31 min
May 9, 1:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Monroe	30 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Iowa, 1996 Every tornado warning in 1996 Tornadoes in 1996

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.