Alert archive / Iowa / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 49, NWS Omaha, NE

April 25, 1998Monona County, Iowa

NWS Omaha, NE issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 25, 1998, 6:51 PM CDT for Monona County, Iowa. It was in force for 34 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 25, 1998, 6:51 PM CDT (23:51 UTC)
Expired
Apr 25, 1998, 7:25 PM CDT
In force
34 min
Issued by
NWS Omaha, NE
Area
Whole counties

County Monona County, IA

The radar

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 88 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:54 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Apr 25, 6:59 PM CDTHail 1.25Castana, 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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Apr 25, 6:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 11.9 hours before the alert went out and 88 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 1998-04-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 1998-04-25The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -48 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1241 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-48 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
43 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

301 
WUUS1 KOMA 252352 RRA
SVROMA
IAC133-260025-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
651 PM CDT SAT APR 25 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN OMAHA HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  MONONA COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL IOWA

* UNTIL 725 PM CDT

* AT 649 PM CDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
  A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 30 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF SIOUX CITY IA OR
  4 MILES EAST OF WHITING MOVING NORTH AT 10 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  MAPLETON    NOW
  RODNEY      NOW

THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF LARGE HAIL.  GET INTO A REINFORCED
SHELTER.  STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS AND GLASS DOORS.

MILLER

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 25, 5:25 PM CDT, 1 hour 26 minutes before
NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034-042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-
IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-261200-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
525 PM CDT SAT APR 25 1998

...SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA...

SPOTTER ACTION...
STORM SPOTTER GROUPS IN NORTHEAST NEBRASKA AND WEST CENTRAL IOWA MAY BE
REQUIRED THIS EVENING.

DISCUSSION...
A COLD FRONT WAS MOVING ACROSS EXTREME SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST
IOWA LATE THIS AFTERNOON.  A LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS WAS DEVELOPING AHEAD
OF THIS FRONT JUST EAST OF RED OAK AND CLARINDA IN SOUTHWEST IOWA.
THE POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE MAINLY EAST OF  OUR AREA THIS
EVENING ASSOCIATED WITH THIS DEVELOPING LINE OF STORMS.

ISOLATED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS HAD ALSO DEVELOPED IN NORTHEAST NEBRASKA
NORTH OF A NORFOLK TO OMAHA LINE AND SOME OF THESE STORMS MAY
APROACH SEVERE LEVELS FOR TIME DURING THE EARLY EVENING.  LARGE
HAIL AND LOCALLY DAMAGING WINDS WILL BE THE PRIMARY THREAT FROM
THESE STORMS.

FOBERT

The office that day

Everything else NWS Omaha, NE issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 25, 5:51 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXMonona59 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.