Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 11, NWS Sioux Falls, SD

July 27, 1996Woodbury County, Iowa; Dakota County, Nebraska

NWS Sioux Falls, SD issued this tornado warning at Jul 27, 1996, 5:24 PM CDT for Woodbury County, Iowa; Dakota County, Nebraska. It was in force for 31 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: Jul 27, 1996, 5:24 PM CDT (22:24 UTC)
Expired: Jul 27, 1996, 5:55 PM CDT
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Sioux Falls, SD
Area: Whole counties

Counties Woodbury County, IA, Dakota County, NE

The radar

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 119 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:23 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 27, 5:25 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50	Dakota City, NE

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, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 119 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: 131 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -95 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 725 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 96 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 147 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KFSD 272225
TORFSD
IAC193-NEC043-272255-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
524 PM CDT SAT JUL 27 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SIOUX FALLS SD HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 555 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHWEST IOWA

   ...WESTERN WOODBURY COUNTY

IN NORTHEAST NEBRASKA

   ...EASTERN DAKOTA COUNTY
 
AT 523 PM CDT...A DEVELOPING TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY SIOUX FALLS
DOPPLER RADAR 11 MILES SOUTH OF SIOUX CITY OR IN THE VICINITY OF
HOMER MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

AT PRESENT MOVEMENT THE TORNADO WILL BE AROUND...
HOMER                    AROUND 525 PM CDT
SALIX                    AROUND 555 PM CDhT
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IN A HOME OR
BUSINESS IS AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID
WINDOWS.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 27, 5:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Woodbury	33 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Iowa, 1996 Tornado Warnings in Nebraska, 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.