Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Watches in 1998

Tornado Watch 625

June 20, 199851 counties in Iowa; Fillmore County, Houston County, Winona County, Minnesota; 15 counties in Wisconsin

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jun 20, 1998, 1:45 PM CDT for 51 counties in Iowa; Fillmore County, Houston County, Winona County, Minnesota; 15 counties in Wisconsin. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jun 20, 1998, 1:45 PM CDT (18:45 UTC)
Expired
Jun 20, 1998, 7:00 PM CDT
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 69 counties

Adair County, IA, Allamakee County, IA, Audubon County, IA, Benton County, IA, Black Hawk County, IA, Boone County, IA, Bremer County, IA, Buchanan County, IA, Buena Vista County, IA, Butler County, IA, Calhoun County, IA, Carroll County, IA, Cass County, IA, Cerro Gordo County, IA, Chickasaw County, IA, Clayton County, IA, Crawford County, IA, Dallas County, IA, Delaware County, IA, Dubuque County, IA, Fayette County, IA, Floyd County, IA, Franklin County, IA, Fremont County, IA, Greene County, IA, Grundy County, IA, Guthrie County, IA, Hamilton County, IA, Hancock County, IA, Hardin County, IA, Harrison County, IA, Howard County, IA, Humboldt County, IA, Ida County, IA, Jasper County, IA, Madison County, IA, Marshall County, IA, Mills County, IA, Mitchell County, IA, Montgomery County, IA, Pocahontas County, IA, Polk County, IA, Pottawattamie County, IA, Sac County, IA, Shelby County, IA, Story County, IA, Tama County, IA, Webster County, IA, Winneshiek County, IA, Worth County, IA, Wright County, IA, Fillmore County, MN, Houston County, MN, Winona County, MN, Adams County, WI, Crawford County, WI, Dane County, WI, Grant County, WI, Iowa County, WI, Jackson County, WI, Juneau County, WI, La Crosse County, WI, Marquette County, WI, Monroe County, WI, Portage County, WI, Richland County, WI, Sauk County, WI, Vernon County, WI, Wood County, WI

The radar

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 111 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:48 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

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 20, 1:46 PM CDTTornado WarningARXFillmore, Olmsted64 min
Jun 20, 2:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDIda32 min
Jun 20, 2:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXHancock32 min
Jun 20, 2:49 PM CDTTornado WarningARXFillmore61 min
Jun 20, 3:18 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningARXHoward62 min
Jun 20, 3:25 PM CDTTornado WarningARXFillmore60 min
Jun 20, 3:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningARXWinneshiek58 min
Jun 20, 4:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningARXHouston60 min
Jun 20, 4:08 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningARXAllamakee82 min
Jun 20, 4:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningARXChickasaw, Fayette78 min
Jun 20, 4:25 PM CDTTornado WarningARXHouston60 min
Jun 20, 4:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningARXWinneshiek63 min
Jun 20, 4:50 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningARXCrawford, Vernon60 min
Jun 20, 4:58 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningARXClayton62 min
Jun 20, 5:25 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningARXAllamakee45 min
Jun 20, 5:35 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningARXGrant60 min
Jun 20, 5:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningARXRichland61 min
Jun 20, 5:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningARXCrawford, Vernon57 min
Jun 20, 5:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningARXClayton, Fayette61 min
Jun 20, 6:09 PM CDTTornado WarningARXVernon51 min
Jun 20, 6:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningMKXIowa, Sauk90 min
Jun 20, 6:34 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningARXGrant16 min
Jun 20, 6:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningARXRichland63 min

The nearest sounding before it

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 6.8 hours before the alert went out and 243 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, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 1998-06-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 18 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, Minneapolis, MN at 12:00Z on 1998-06-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 416 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
18 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-384 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2049 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
416 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
589 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
4.1

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.

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 20, 3:15 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCFremont, Mills6 hr
Jun 20, 9:15 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAnoka, Blue Earth, Carver, Chisago, Dakota, Dodge and 23 more6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Iowa, 1998Tornado Watches in Wisconsin, 1998Tornado Watches in Minnesota, 1998Every tornado watch 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.