Alert archive / Iowa / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 31, NWS Sioux Falls, SD

June 20, 1997Woodbury County, Iowa

NWS Sioux Falls, SD issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 20, 1997, 9:00 PM CDT for Woodbury County, Iowa. It was in force for 45 min. 2 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
Jun 20, 1997, 9:00 PM CDT (02:00 UTC)
Expired
Jun 20, 1997, 9:45 PM CDT
In force
45 min
Issued by
NWS Sioux Falls, SD
Area
Whole counties

County Woodbury County, IA

The radar

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 122 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:03 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Jun 20, 9:10 PM CDTHail 2.5Hornick, IA
Jun 20, 9:25 PM CDTHail 1.75Smithland, 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 00:00Z, 2.0 hours before the alert went out and 122 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, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 1997-06-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 5994 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 1997-06-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 89 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
5994 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1151 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
89 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
186 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
4.8
Supercell composite
25.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KFSD 210200 RRA
SVRFSD
IAC193-210245-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
900 PM CDT FRI JUN 20 1997

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  WOODBURY COUNTY - IN NORTHWESTERN IOWA

* UNTIL 945 PM CDT
 
* SOME AREAS AFFECTED
  SLOAN                    AROUND 905 PM CDT
  HORNICK                  AROUND 915 PM CDT
  HOLLY SPRINGS            AROUND 920 PM CDT
  CLIMBING HILL            AROUND 930 PM CDT
  OTO                      AROUND 930 PM CDT

* AT 857 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 27 MILES SOUTH OF SIOUX CITY  OR 7 MILES
  SOUTH OF SLOAN MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.
 
STRONG GUSTY WINDS...FREQUENT LIGHTNING...VERY HEAVY RAINFALL AND
SMALL HAIL MAY ACCOMPANY THE STRONGER STORMS.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Sioux Falls, SD wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jun 20, 10:03 AM CDT, 10 hours 57 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 20, 10:03 AM CDT, 10 hours 57 minutes before
SOUTH DAKOTA/NORTHWEST IOWA/SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
1000 AM CDT FRI JUN 20 1997

AS PREDICTED YESTERDAY NGM/FWC POPS WOEFULLY INADEQUATE WITH THIS
CONVECTIVE PATTERN. LUKS LK ANOTHER SHORT WV WITH SCT SHWRS AND TSTMS
WL DVLP EWD INTO MUCH OF THE CWA THIS AFTN AND TNGT AGAIN...WITH THIS
TIME THE MAIN THREAT OF SVR NR THE NEB AND IOWA BORDERS. ALREADY
CLEANED UP AND FINE TUNED PREV FCST.

.FSD...NONE
RYRHOLM

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 20, 9:38 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDIda47 min
Jun 20, 9:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDWoodbury35 min
Jun 20, 10:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDPlymouth33 min
Jun 20, 10:34 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDLyon31 min
Jun 20, 11:02 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDLyon33 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Iowa, 1997Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.