Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 743

October 8, 199751 counties in Iowa; Lincoln County, South Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Oct 8, 1997, 6:45 PM CDT for 51 counties in Iowa; Lincoln County, South Dakota. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Oct 8, 1997, 6:45 PM CDT (23:45 UTC)
Expired
Oct 9, 1997, 12:00 AM CDT
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 52 counties

Adair County, IA, Adams County, IA, Audubon County, IA, Boone County, IA, Buena Vista County, IA, Calhoun County, IA, Carroll County, IA, Cass County, IA, Cherokee County, IA, Clarke County, IA, Clay County, IA, Crawford County, IA, Dallas County, IA, Decatur County, IA, Dickinson County, IA, Emmet County, IA, Fremont County, IA, Greene County, IA, Guthrie County, IA, Hamilton County, IA, Hancock County, IA, Harrison County, IA, Humboldt County, IA, Ida County, IA, Kossuth County, IA, Lucas County, IA, Lyon County, IA, Madison County, IA, Mills County, IA, Monona County, IA, Montgomery County, IA, O'Brien County, IA, Osceola County, IA, Page County, IA, Palo Alto County, IA, Plymouth County, IA, Pocahontas County, IA, Polk County, IA, Pottawattamie County, IA, Ringgold County, IA, Sac County, IA, Shelby County, IA, Sioux County, IA, Story County, IA, Taylor County, IA, Union County, IA, Warren County, IA, Wayne County, IA, Webster County, IA, Woodbury County, IA, Wright County, IA, Lincoln County, SD

The radar

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 104 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:47 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.

Warnings issued inside it

1 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Oct 8, 9:50 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXAdair, Cass35 min

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 182 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 12:00Z on 1997-10-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 468 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 12:00Z on 1997-10-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 241 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
468 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
574 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
241 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
223 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.3
Supercell composite
1.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Iowa, 1997Tornado Watches in South Dakota, 1997Every tornado watch 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.