Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Des Moines, IA

May 12, 1997Jasper County, Iowa

NWS Des Moines, IA issued this tornado warning at May 12, 1997, 5:54 PM CDT for Jasper County, Iowa. It was in force for 31 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
May 12, 1997, 5:54 PM CDT (22:54 UTC)
Expired
May 12, 1997, 6:25 PM CDT
In force
31 min
Issued by
NWS Des Moines, IA
Area
Whole counties

County Jasper County, IA

The radar

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 56 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:57 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Davenport, (KDVN), launched 12:00Z, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 212 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, Davenport, at 12:00Z on 1997-05-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Davenport, at 12:00Z on 1997-05-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -24 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1627 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-24 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
26 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KDSM 122253 RRA
TORDSM
IAC099-122325-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
554 PM CDT MON MAY 12 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  JASPER COUNTY - CENTRAL IOWA

* UNTIL 625 PM CDT
 
* SOME AREAS AFFECTED
    NEWTON
    BAXTER
    PRARIE CITY

* AT 550 PM CDT THE PUBLIC REPORTED A TORNADO NEAR BAXTER OR 30 MILES
  NORTHEAST OF DES MOINES MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

* THE STORM WILL BE NEAR NEWTON BY 600 PM.

IF YOU ARE NEAR THIS DANGEROUS STORM...TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY IN THE
LOWEST FLOOR AND INNER MOST ROOM OF A BUILDING. UNCONFIRMED BRIEF
TORNADO TOUCHDOWNS WERE REPORTED BY THE PUBLIC NEAR BAXTER AT 550 PM.
A WEAK TORNADO HAS ALREADY TOUCHED DOWN OVER EASTERN POLK COUNTY.

PYTLAK
 

&

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 12, 5:33 PM CDTTornado WarningDMXPolk27 min
May 12, 6:15 PM CDTTornado WarningDMXMarion35 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Iowa, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes in 1997

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.