Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 14, NWS Quad Cities, IA

May 18, 1997Benton County, Iowa

NWS Quad Cities, IA issued this tornado warning at May 18, 1997, 4:45 PM CDT for Benton County, Iowa. It was in force for 50 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 18, 1997, 4:45 PM CDT (21:45 UTC)
Expired: May 18, 1997, 5:35 PM CDT
In force: 50 min
Issued by: NWS Quad Cities, IA
Area: Whole counties

County Benton County, IA

The radar

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 134 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:48 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
May 18, 5:20 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Van Horne, 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 18, 2:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Davenport, (KDVN), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 139 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1986 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 266 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 293 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 KMLI 182146 RRA
TORMLI
IAC011-182235-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
445 PM CDT SUN MAY 18 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  BENTON COUNTY - IN EAST CENTRAL IOWA

* UNTIL 535 PM CDT
 
* THIS TORNADO WILL REACH NEAR
  ATKINS                             AROUND 450 PM CDT
  SHELLSBURG                         AROUND 450 PM CDT
  WALFORD                            AROUND 450 PM CDT

* AT 445 PM CDT...A DEVELOPING TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY QUAD CITIES
  IA DOPPLER RADAR 17 MILES WEST OF CEDAR RAPIDS OR 6 MILES WEST OF
  ATKINS MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH.
 
IF YOU SPOT A TORNADO..NEVER TRY TO OUTRUN IT IN A CAR. CARS ARE
EASILY TOSSED AROUND BY TORNADO WINDS.<

HENDRICKS

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 18, 3:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Benton	50 min
May 18, 3:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Linn	50 min
May 18, 3:55 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DVN	Benton, Linn	50 min
May 18, 4:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Delaware	51 min
May 18, 4:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DVN	Cedar, Jones	50 min
May 18, 4:46 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DVN	Linn	49 min
May 18, 4:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Dubuque	49 min
May 18, 5:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Clinton, Jackson	47 min
May 18, 5:11 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	DVN	Benton, Linn	3 hr
May 18, 5:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Cedar, Jones	47 min
May 18, 5:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Iowa, Johnson	63 min
May 18, 5:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Linn	49 min
May 18, 5:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Dubuque	49 min
May 18, 5:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Clinton	46 min
May 18, 5:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Delaware	47 min
May 18, 6:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Dubuque	50 min
May 18, 6:28 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	DVN	Dubuque	3 hr
May 18, 6:31 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DVN	Johnson	49 min
May 18, 6:55 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DVN	Cedar, Muscatine	50 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Iowa, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.