Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 24, NWS Quad Cities, IA

August 19, 1996Linn County, Iowa

NWS Quad Cities, IA issued this tornado warning at Aug 19, 1996, 4:24 PM CDT for Linn County, Iowa. It was in force for 51 min. 4 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: Aug 19, 1996, 4:24 PM CDT (21:24 UTC)
Expired: Aug 19, 1996, 5:15 PM CDT
In force: 51 min
Issued by: NWS Quad Cities, IA
Area: Whole counties

County Linn County, IA

The radar

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 99 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:26 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
Aug 19, 4:30 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 60	Cedar Rapids, IA
Aug 19, 4:30 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 52	Cedar Rapids Arpt, IA
Aug 19, 4:45 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 60	Marion, IA
Aug 19, 5:00 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 60	Central City, 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

Davenport, (KDVN), launched 12:00Z, 9.4 hours before the alert went out and 104 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: 462 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -35 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 597 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 86 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 110 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMLI 192126
TORMLI
IAC113-192215-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
424 PM CDT MON AUG 19 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN QUAD CITIES IA HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  515 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN EAST CENTRAL IOWA
 
   ...LINN COUNTY
 
AT 423 PM CDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
DEVELOPING TORNADO NEAR CEDAR RAPIDS. THE TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM WAS
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH AND WILL AFFECT THE CITIES OF CEDAR
RAPIDS AND MARION THROUGH 435 PM CDT.
 
THIS WARNING REPLACES THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING IN EFFECT FOR LINN
COUNTY.
 
GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR!
 
HENDRICKS

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.

NWS Quad Cities, IA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Aug 19, 1:30 PM CDT, 2 hours 54 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 19, 1:30 PM CDT, 2 hours 54 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
130 PM CDT MON AUG 19 1996

SFC MOIST FLUX CNVG BULLS-EYE LOCATED ALONG COLD FNT ACRS WRN IA ON
LATEST MESO. 7M(A,V) PLAINVIEW PROFILIER PLOT DEPICTED UPR DISTURBANCE
IN SWRN MN AND WRN IA. KDMX 88-D DEPICTED NUMEROUS SHRA/TSRA DEVELOPING
FROM OMA-DSM-STO LK. CLUSTER OF TSRA OVR NERN IA POISED TO MOVE INTO
SWRN WI. REDEVELOPMENT OCCURRING ON SRN EDGE AS OUTFLOW BOUNDARY
INTERACTS WITH 20-25KT LOW LEVEL SRLY FLOW ON KDVN VAD WIND PROFILIER.
DEBRI FROM COMPLEX OF STORMS BLANKETS AREAS NORTH OF I-80 WITH
RELATIVELY CLOUD FREE SKIES TO THE SOUTH. COMBO OF TWO SUPPORTING DIFF
HTG ACRS CWA WITH 70 F AT DBQ UNDER CLOUDS AND 84 F AT BRL UNDER
PARTIAL SUNSHINE. FORECAST PROBLEM POPS OVERNIGHT.

15Z RUC SIMILIAR TO 12Z RAFS/ETA IN MOVG POTENT SHRTWV ACRS NORTHERN
TIER OF STATES. GREATEST EWRD PUSH WITH COLD FRONT IN MN/WI NEAR
DYNAMICS. SRN PORTION OF FNT SLOW TO MOVE... WITH THETA-E/INSTABILITY
AXIS DIAGONAL FROM SW TO NE IA BY 03Z. RAFS/ETA CONTINUE SLOW EWRD
PUSH... REACHING THE MISS R BY 12Z TUE. RRQ OF DEPARTING 25H JET TO
PROVIDE GOOD UPR DVRG AND LOBE OF VORTICITY ASSD WITH SHRTWV TO YIELD
DECENT PVA THIS EVENING. LI'S MINUS 6-8 ALONG AND SOUTH OF I-80 ATTM
AND K-INDICIES TO 40 WITH APPROACH OF FNT. RECOMMEND CAT/LIKELY POPS
TONIGHT IN SPITE FAN/FWC. BRUNT OF UPR SUPPORT BETWEEN 00Z-06Z... WHICH
SUPPORTS TSRA. FROM 06Z-12Z... CONVERGENCE ALONG ADVANCING COLD FRONT
AND LLJ TO PRODUCE NUMEROUS SHRA.

CID 072/70    DBQ 070/70    MLI 073/70    BRL 075/70

HENDRICKS

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 19, 4:23 PM CDT, 1 minute before

IAZ040>042-051>054-063>068-076>078-087>089-098-099-ILZ001-002-
007-009-015>018-024>026-034-035-200300-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
423 PM CDT MON AUG 19 1996

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IN EFFECT...

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 970 IS IN EFFECT FOR PARTS OF SOUTHERN AND
EASTERN IOWA UNTIL 1000 PM TONIGHT.

IOWA COUNTIES INCLUDED IN THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ARE...

BENTON...LINN...JONES...IOWA...JOHNSON...CEDAR...MUSCATINE...KEOKUK
...WASHINGTON...LOUISA...JEFFERSON...HENRY...DES MOINES...VAN BUREN
...AND LEE.

SOME CITIES INCLUDED IN THIS WATCH ARE...

ANAMOSA...CEDAR RAPIDS...IOWA CITY...MUSCATINE...BURLINGTON...AND
FAIRFIELD.

ADVANCE PLANNING DURING A WATCH IS ESSENTIAL. MAKE SURE YOUR
FAMILY KNOWS WHERE TO GO IF A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING IS
ISSUED.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL RADIO OR
TELEVISION STATION FOR THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION.

PIERCE

The office that day

Everything else NWS Quad Cities, IA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 19, 4:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Linn	48 min
Aug 19, 4:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DVN	Jones	45 min
Aug 19, 5:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Jones	27 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.