Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Sioux Falls, SD

May 16, 1999Ida County, Iowa

NWS Sioux Falls, SD issued this tornado warning at May 16, 1999, 4:20 PM CDT for Ida County, Iowa. It was in force for 30 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 16, 1999, 4:20 PM CDT (21:20 UTC)
Expired: May 16, 1999, 4:50 PM CDT
In force: 30 min
Issued by: NWS Sioux Falls, SD
Area: Whole counties

County Ida County, IA

The radar

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 138 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:22 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.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 16, 3:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 9.3 hours before the alert went out and 314 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 597 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 82 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 142 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KFSD 162120 RRA
TORFSD
IAC093-162150-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SIOUX FALLS SD
420 PM CDT SUN MAY 16 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SIOUX FALLS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN IDA COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN IOWA

* UNTIL 450 PM CDT

* AT 417 PM CDT... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOTTERS REPORTED A
  TORNADO 45 MILES SOUTHEAST OF SIOUX CITY OR 10 MILES SOUTH OF
  BATTLE CREEK... MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

THE TORNADO IS CURRENTLY EXPECTED TO REMAIN OVER RURAL AREAS.

A TORNADO HAS BEEN REPORTED WITH THIS STORM NORTHWEST OF RICKETTS
IN NORTHWEST CRAWFORD COUNTY. GO TO THE BASEMENT. IF A BASEMENT IS
NOT AVAILABLE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Sioux Falls, SD issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 7:51 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Ida, Woodbury	24 min
May 16, 9:20 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Buena Vista, Ida	25 min
May 16, 3:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Ida, Woodbury	36 min
May 16, 3:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Cherokee	26 min
May 16, 4:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Ida, Woodbury	30 min
May 16, 4:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Buena Vista, Cherokee	29 min
May 16, 4:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Dickinson	35 min
May 16, 5:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Cherokee, Woodbury	30 min
May 16, 5:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Dickinson, Osceola	34 min
May 16, 5:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	FSD	Cherokee, O'Brien	30 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Iowa, 1999 Every tornado warning in 1999 Tornadoes in 1999

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.