Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 9, NWS Des Moines, IA

July 29, 1996Greene County, Iowa

NWS Des Moines, IA issued this tornado warning at Jul 29, 1996, 4:27 PM CDT for Greene County, Iowa. It was in force for 43 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Jul 29, 1996, 4:27 PM CDT (21:27 UTC)
Expired: Jul 29, 1996, 5:10 PM CDT
In force: 43 min
Issued by: NWS Des Moines, IA
Area: Whole counties

County Greene County, IA

The radar

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 65 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:30 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Jul 29, 4:30 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Cooper, IA
Jul 29, 4:37 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Cooper, IA

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 9.5 hours before the alert went out and 182 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: 498 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -161 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 945 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 97 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 152 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KDSM 292126
TORDSM
IAC073-292155-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
427 PM CDT MON JUL 29 1996

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  GREENE COUNTY - WEST CENTRAL IOWA

* UNTIL 510 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    COOPER
    RURAL AREAS

* AT 425 PM CDT RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 35 SOUTHWEST OF FORT DODGE
  OR 7 MILES WEST OF JEFFERSON MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

* THE STORM WILL BE OVER RURAL AREAS NEAR THE TTOWN OF COOPER AT
  500 PM CDT.

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

SCHAFER

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 29, 2:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Pocahontas	29 min
Jul 29, 3:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Adair	30 min
Jul 29, 3:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Madison	35 min
Jul 29, 3:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Calhoun	29 min
Jul 29, 5:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Clarke, Decatur	41 min
Jul 29, 5:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Clarke, Union	53 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.