Alert archive / Iowa / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 7, NWS Sioux Falls, SD

May 17, 1996Sioux County, Iowa

NWS Sioux Falls, SD issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 17, 1996, 8:33 PM CDT for Sioux County, Iowa. It was in force for 32 min. 1 report 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
May 17, 1996, 8:33 PM CDT (01:33 UTC)
Expired
May 17, 1996, 9:05 PM CDT
In force
32 min
Issued by
NWS Sioux Falls, SD
Area
Whole counties

County Sioux County, IA

The radar

The Sioux Falls radar (KFSD), 72 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:32 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 17, 8:35 PM CDTHail 0.75Maurice, 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 00:00Z, 1.6 hours before the alert went out and 197 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 00:00Z on 1996-05-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 3864 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 00:00Z on 1996-05-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -24 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
3864 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-15 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1845 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-24 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
32 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KFSD 180134
SVRFSD
IAC167-180205-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
833 PM CDT FRI MAY 17 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SIOUX FALLS HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 905 PM CDT (805 PM MDT)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHWEST IOWA

   ...EASTERN SIOUX COUNTY
 
AT 830 PM CDT...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS DETECTED BY SIOUX FALLS
DOPPLER RADAR 32 MILES NORTH OF SIOUX CITY OR NEAR MAURICE MOVING
NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.

THIS STORM CAN BE EXPECTED IN THE VICINITY OF...
CARNES                   AROUND 835 PM CDT
ALTON                    AROUND 840 PM CDT
GRANVILLE                AROUND 845 PM CDT
NEWKIRK                  AROUND 845 PM CDT
HOSPERS                  AROUND 850 PM CDT
BOYDEN                   AROUND 855 PM CDT
 
A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE
POSSIBLE IN AND NEAR THE WATCH AREA.  BE AWARE OF THE POSSIBILITY
OF THREATENING WEATHER AND LISTEN TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO... COMMERCIAL
RADIO OR TELEVISION FOR FURTHER INFORMATION.

REMEMBER...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OFTEN PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE
OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.  A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL
11PM CDT.

CHAPMAN

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

Local storm report, May 17, 7:05 PM CDT, 1 hour 28 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  SIOUX FALLS SD
705 PM CDT FRI MAY 17 1996

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0410 PM    WESSINGTON                SD   0.75 INCH HAIL
05/17/96   BEADLE

CHAPMAN
Special weather statement, May 17, 7:13 PM CDT, 1 hour 20 minutes before
SDZ007-011-019-020-022-023-039-040-054>056-060>062-180200-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
710 PM CDT FRI MAY 17 1996

...TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 383 CANCELLED FOR FAR EASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA
EXCEPT CONTINUED UNTIL 9 PM CDT EXTREME NORTHEAST...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS CANCELLED THE PART OF TORNADO WATCH
NUMBER 383 THAT WAS IN EFFECT FOR MOST OF FAR EASTERN SOUTH DAKOTA...
EXCEPT FOR THE EXTREME NORTHEAST WHEREf THE WATCH CONTINUES UNTIL 9 PM
CDT FOR ROBERTS AND GRANT COUNTIES.

WILLIAMS
Special weather statement, May 17, 8:11 PM CDT, 22 minutes before
SDZ008-021-180200-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
810 PM CDT FRI MAY 17 1996

...TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 383 CANCELLED FOR EXTREME NORTHEAST SOUTH
DAKOTA...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS CANCELLED THE PART OF TORNADO WATCH
NUMBER 383 THAT WAS IN EFFECT FOR EXTREME NORTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA.

WILLIAMS

The office that day

Everything else NWS Sioux Falls, SD issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 17, 8:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDO'Brien30 min
May 17, 8:57 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDOsceola33 min
May 17, 9:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDDickinson31 min
May 17, 9:20 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDWoodbury35 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Iowa, 1996Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.