Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Des Moines, IA

April 6, 1998Greene County, Iowa

NWS Des Moines, IA issued this tornado warning at Apr 6, 1998, 6:32 PM CDT for Greene County, Iowa. It was in force for 33 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 6, 1998, 6:32 PM CDT (23:32 UTC)
Expired: Apr 6, 1998, 7:05 PM CDT
In force: 33 min
Issued by: NWS Des Moines, IA
Area: Whole counties

County Greene County, IA

The radar

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 65 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:34 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 6, 7:00 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Scranton, 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 6, 6:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 11.5 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 2 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -340 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 961 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 34 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 66 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KDSM 062332 RRA
TORDSM
IAC073-070005-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
632 PM CDT MON APR 6 1998

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  GREENE COUNTY - WEST CENTRAL IOWA

* UNTIL 705 PM CDT
 
* SOME AREAS AFFECTED
    CHURDAN
    PATON
    DANA

* AT 535 PM CDT RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 30 MILES SW OF FORT DODGE OR
  NEAR CHURDAN MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

* THE STORM WILL BE NEAR CHRUDAN AT 635 PM CDT.

IF YOU AR|E NEAR THIS DANGEROUS STORM...TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY IN THE
LOWEST FLOOR AND INNER MOST ROOM OF A BUILDING.

FAB

The office that day

Everything else NWS Des Moines, IA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 6, 2:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Guthrie	30 min
Apr 6, 4:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Boone, Dallas	34 min
Apr 6, 4:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Boone	31 min
Apr 6, 5:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Story	46 min
Apr 6, 6:24 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Calhoun, Webster	31 min
Apr 6, 6:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Boone, Webster	34 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Iowa, 1998 Every tornado warning in 1998 Tornadoes 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.