Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 5, NWS Omaha, NE
NWS Omaha, NE issued this tornado warning at May 7, 1997, 4:49 PM CDT for Mills County, Iowa. It was in force for 66 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 7, 1997, 4:49 PM CDT (21:49 UTC)
- Expired
- May 7, 1997, 5:55 PM CDT
- In force
- 66 min
- Issued by
- NWS Omaha, NE
- Area
- Whole counties
County Mills County, IA
The radar
The Omaha radar (KOAX), 70 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:53 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 watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 7, 2:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 70 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 963 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 46 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 155 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 202 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 5.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
385 WFUS1 KOMA 072150 RRA TOROMA IAC129-072255- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 449 PM CDT WED MAY 7 1997 * TORNADO WARNING FOR MILLS COUNTY - IN SOUTHWESTERN IOWA * UNTIL 555 PM CDT * SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED HASTINGS BY AROUND 455 PM CDT EMERSON BY AROUND 510 PM CDT * AT 448 PM CDT...A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY DOPPLER RADAR 22 MILES SOUTHEAST OF DOWNTOWN OMAHA OR 5 MILES NORTHWEST OF HASTINGS MOVING EAST SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH. TAKE COVER IN A REINFORCED BUILDING ON THE LOWEST FLOOR IMMEDIATELY. STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS. DAMAGE REPORTS OR OBSERVED SEVERE WEATHER SHOULD BE GIVEN TO A LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY FOR RELAY TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. SKERRITT
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, May 7, 10:52 AM CDT, 5 hours 57 minutes before
NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034-042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093- IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-081200- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 1055 AM CDT WED MAY 7 1997 ...SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA... SPOTTER ACTION... STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED INTO THIS EVENING OVER EASTERN NEBRASKA AND WESTERN IOWA. DISCUSSION... THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING OVER NORTHEAST NEBRASKA COULD POSSIBLY BECOME SEVERE EARLY THIS AFTERNOON OVER PARTS OF EAST CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND WEST CENTRAL IOWA. THESE STORMS WERE NORTH OF A WARM FRONT THAT WAS ALONG THE PLATTE RIVER. OTHER THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT...INCLUDING SOME POSSIBLY SEVERE...COULD DEVELOP OR MOVE INTO SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA LATER THIS AFTERNOON AS A COLD FRONT ENTERS THE AREA. THE MAIN THREAT FROM THESE STORMS ARE GUSTY WINDS AND HAIL...ALTHOUGH SUPERCELL DEVELOPMENT AND A POSSIBLE TORNADO CAN/T PBE RULED OUT. CHERMOK
Special weather statement, May 7, 10:55 AM CDT, 5 hours 54 minutes before
NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034-042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093- IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-081200- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 1055 AM CDT WED MAY 7 1997 ...SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA... SPOTTER ACTION... STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED INTO THIS EVENING OVER EASTERN NEBRASKA AND WESTERN IOWA. DISCUSSION... THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING OVER NORTHEAST NEBRASKA COULD POSSIBLY BECOME SEVERE EARLY THIS AFTERNOON OVER PARTS OF EAST CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND WEST CENTRAL IOWA. THESE STORMS WERE NORTH OF A WARM FRONT THAT WAS ALONG THE PLATTE RIVER. OTHER THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT...INCLUDING SOME POSSIBLY SEVERE...COULD DEVELOP OR MOVE INTO SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA LATER THIS AFTERNOON AS A COLD FRONT ENTERS THE AREA. THE MAIN THREAT FROM THESE STORMS ARE GUSTY WINDS AND HAIL...ALTHOUGH SUPERCELL DEVELOPMENT AND A POSSIBLE TORNADO CAN/T BE RULED OUT. CHERMOK
Special weather statement, May 7, 3:57 PM CDT, 52 minutes before
NEZ034-044-045-051-IAZ043-072200- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE 355 PM CDT WED MAY 7 1997 ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 261 HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR A PART OF EAST CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND WEST CENTRAL IOWA... A LINE OF STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WAS ORGANIZING FROM SOUTHWEST OF OMAHA NORTHEAST TO EASTERN HARRISON COUNTY IOWA. THE THREAT OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS NORTHWEST OF THIS AREA HAS DIMINISHED. THUS THE SEZVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR SAUNDERS...DODGE...WASHINGTON AND BURT COUNTIES OF EASTERN NEBRASKA AND FOR MONONA COUNTY IOWA. CHERMOK
The office that day
Everything else NWS Omaha, NE issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 7, 3:01 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Pottawattamie | 64 min |
| May 7, 3:36 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Shelby | 64 min |
| May 7, 4:16 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Mills, Pottawattamie | 64 min |
| May 7, 5:58 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Montgomery, Page | 62 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.