Alert archive / Iowa / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 24, NWS Des Moines, IA
NWS Des Moines, IA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 14, 1998, 10:54 PM CDT for Ringgold County, Iowa. It was in force for 31 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
- Apr 14, 1998, 10:54 PM CDT (03:54 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 14, 1998, 11:25 PM CDT
- In force
- 31 min
- Issued by
- NWS Des Moines, IA
- Area
- Whole counties
County Ringgold County, IA
The radar
The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 119 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:54 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 14, 10:56 PM CDT | Hail 0.75 | Diagonal, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 14, 6:45 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 00:00Z, 3.9 hours before the alert went out and 190 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
- 3 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -139 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1639 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 51 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 141 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 444 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KDSM 150354 RRA SVRDSM IAC159-150425- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 1054 PM CDT TUE APR 14 1998 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DES MOINES HAS ISSUED A * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR... NORTHWESTERN RINGGOLD COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL IOWA * UNTIL 1125 PM CDT * AT 1052 PM CDT... DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 74 MILES SOUTHWEST OF DES MOINES OR 10 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF DIAGONAL MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH. * THIS STORM CAN BE EXPECTED NEAR... DIAGONAL BY 1103 PM CDT TINGLEY BY 1117 PM CDT GO INSIDE A STURDY BUILDING AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS! A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFE CT. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING. SEARCY/MS
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.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Apr 14, 6:41 PM CDT, 4 hours 13 minutes before
IAZ004>007-015>017-023>028-033>039-044>050-057>062-070>075-081>086- 092>097-150800- CENTRAL IOWA THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 641 PM CDT TUE APR 14 1998 HAZARD--ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL UP TO ONE AND ONE- HALF INCH IN DIAMETER AND POSSIBLE TORNADOES. WIDESPREAD 1 TO 2 INCH RAINS ARE ALSO EXPECTED LATER TONIGHT WITH ISOLATED AMOUNTS UP TO 3 INCHES. AREA OF CONCERN AND TIMING DETAILS--FOR THE TORNADO POTENTIAL AND LARGE HAIL...SOUTH OF AN AUDUBON TO GUTHRIE CENTER LINE AND WEST OF A GUTHRIE CENTER TO MOUNT AYR LINE BETWEEN 700 PM AND MIDNIGHT. FOR THE ISOLATED INCH RAINS...SOUTH OF I-80 AND EAST OF I-35 BETWEEN 200 AM AND 600 AM. METEOROLOGICAL COMMENTS--LOW PRESSURE CONTINUED TO DEEPEN OVER NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS WITH A WARM FRONT LYING JUST SOUTH OF THE IOWA- MISSOURI BORDER. MOISTURE IS STILL LIMITED ALONG THE FRONT BUT DEWPOINTS IN THE LOWER 60S WERE SURGING NORTH TO MEET IT. RAPID THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT IS OCCURRING ALONG THE WARM FRONT IN SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA. THESE STORMS WILL MOVE EAST NORTHEAST INTO SOUTHWEST IOWA THIS EVENING. AFTER DARK...WITH THE LOSS OF DAYTIME HEATING THE STORMS SHOULD WEAKEN THEM SOMEWHAT. HOWEVER...A COUPLE OF THEM COULD SURVIVE INTO SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST IOWA SINCE THE ATMOSPHERE WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY UNSTABLE. OVERNIGHT AS THE WARM FRONT STALLS OUT OVER FAR SOUTHERN IOWA...THUNDERSTORMS WILL TRAIN ALONG IT...RESULTING IN SUSTAINED...HEAVY RAINFALL ON FAIRLY SATURATED GROUND. PRECAUTIONS--SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE REQUIRED THIS EVENING OVER SOUTHWEST IOWA AND POSSIBLY OVER SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST IOWA LATER THIS EVENING. EMERGENCY MANAGERS AND SPOTTERS NEED TO BE ALERT THIS EVENING OVER SOUTHWEST IOWA FOR LARGE HAIL AND FOR THE TORNADO THREAT...AND LATER TONIGHT OVER MOST OF SOUTHERN IOWA NEAR FLOOD PRONE RIVERS AND STREAMS. SEARCY
The office that day
Everything else NWS Des Moines, IA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 14, 10:12 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Taylor | 33 min |
| Apr 14, 10:43 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Adams, Taylor | 32 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Iowa, 1998Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1998
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.