Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 49, NWS Omaha, NE

June 23, 1996Fremont County, Mills County, Iowa

NWS Omaha, NE issued this tornado warning at Jun 23, 1996, 4:12 PM CDT for Fremont County, Mills County, Iowa. It was in force for 48 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: Jun 23, 1996, 4:12 PM CDT (21:12 UTC)
Expired: Jun 23, 1996, 5:00 PM CDT
In force: 48 min
Issued by: NWS Omaha, NE
Area: Whole counties

Counties Fremont County, IA, Mills County, IA

The radar

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 79 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:13 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
Jun 23, 4:40 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 52	Malvern, 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, 9.2 hours before the alert went out and 79 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: 70 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -399 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1219 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 141 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 297 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KOMA 232113
TOROMA
IAC071-129-232200-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
412 PM CDT SUN JUN 23 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN OMAHA/VALLEY HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  500 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN SOUTHWEST IOWA
 
   ...NORTHERN FREMONT COUNTY...MILLS COUNTY
 
AT 410 PM CDT WEATHER SERVICE RADAR SHOWED A POSSIBLE TORNADO JUST EAST
OF TABOR IOWA...32 MILES SOUTHEAST OF OMAHA. THHE TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM
WAS MOVING TO THE EAST NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.
 
IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE THE TOWNS OF RANDOLPH AND STRAHAN.
 
 
PEOPLE IN THE WARNED AREA SHOULD MOVE TO A REINFORCED BUILDING ON
THE LOWEST FLOOR TO BE PREPARED FOR THE DESTRUCTIVE WINDS THAT
ACCOMPANY TORNADOES.  IN ADDITION TO THE THREAT OF TORNADOES...
LARGE HAIL...DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND VERY HEAVY RAIN ARE LIKELY
WITH THIS STORM.
 
 
BYRD

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.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jun 23, 11:24 AM CDT, 4 hours 48 minutes before

NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034-042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-
IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-241200-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
1120 AM CST SUN JUN 23 1996

...SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA...

SPOTTER ACTION...
STORM SPOTTER GROUPS IN EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA MAY NEED TO
BE ACTIVATED THIS AFTERNOON OR TONIGHT.

DISCUSSION...
A FRONTAL BOUNDARY EXTENDING FROM SOUTHERN NEBRASKA INTO NORTHWEST
KANSAS WILL SERVE AS A FOCUSSING MECHANISM FOR MORE SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON INTO TONIGHT.
WARM...MOIST...AND VERY UNSTABLE AIR WILL CONTINUE TO FLOW NORTH OVER
THE FRONT THROUGH THIS AFTERNOON INTO TONIGHT.  THIS WILL SETUP THE
CONDITIONS FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT THIS AFTERNOON
THROUGH TONIGHT...MAINLY ACROSS SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA INTO SOUTHWEST IOWA.
IN ADDITION TO THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT...HEAVY RAINFA<LL IN EXCESS OF
2 INCHES WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THE STORMS.

HINSON

The office that day

Everything else NWS Omaha, NE issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 23, 1:05 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Mills	40 min
Jun 23, 1:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Fremont	37 min
Jun 23, 3:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Page	48 min
Jun 23, 3:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Mills	67 min
Jun 23, 4:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Montgomery, Page	57 min
Jun 23, 5:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Mills, Pottawattamie	69 min
Jun 23, 6:55 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	OAX	Page	4 hr

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.