Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 18, NWS Quad Cities, IA
NWS Quad Cities, IA issued this tornado warning at May 18, 1997, 7:52 PM CDT for Scott County, Iowa. It was in force for 48 min. 4 reports 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, 7:52 PM CDT (00:52 UTC)
- Expired
- May 18, 1997, 8:40 PM CDT
- In force
- 48 min
- Issued by
- NWS Quad Cities, IA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Scott County, IA
The radar
The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 4 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:54 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, 7:58 PM CDT | Hail 0.75 | Davenport, IA | |
| May 18, 7:58 PM CDT | Hail 1 | Davenport, IA | |
| May 18, 8:00 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Bettendorf, IA | Brief tornado touchdown near 18th and Middle Road. |
| May 18, 8:14 PM CDT | Hail 0.75 | Bettendorf, 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 |
| May 18, 5:30 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Davenport, (KDVN), launched 00:00Z, 0.9 hours before the alert went out and 10 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2339 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -25 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1544 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 49 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 145 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 165 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.0
- Supercell composite
- 9.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
125 WFUS1 KMLI 190053 RRA TORMLI IAC163-190140- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL 752 PM CDT SUN MAY 18 1997 * TORNADO WARNING FOR SCOTT COUNTY - IN EAST CENTRAL IOWA * UNTIL 840 PM CDT * THIS TORNADO WILL REACH NEAR BLUE GRASS AROUND 755 PM CDT BUFFALO AROUND 800 PM CDT DAVENPORT AROUND 810 PM CDT BETTENDORF AROUND 815 PM CDT * AT 751 PM CDT...A DEVELOPING TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY QUAD CITIES IA DOPPLER RADAR 14 MILES NORTHEAST OF MUSCATINE OR 6 MILES NORTHWEST OF BLUE GRASS MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. ACT QUICKLY. GO TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF AVAILABLE. OTHERWISE GO TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. AVOID WINDOWS. ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES...TAKE COVER IN A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT. HENDRICKS
The office that day
Everything else NWS Quad Cities, IA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 18, 7:24 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DVN | Clinton | 51 min |
| May 18, 7:31 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DVN | Scott | 49 min |
| May 18, 8:10 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | DVN | Muscatine | 50 min |
| May 18, 8:21 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DVN | Louisa | 49 min |
| May 18, 8:22 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DVN | Des Moines, Lee | 48 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.