Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 2000

Tornado Warning 21, NWS Des Moines, IA

July 2, 2000Pocahontas County, Iowa

NWS Des Moines, IA issued this tornado warning at Jul 2, 2000, 4:54 PM CDT for Pocahontas County, Iowa. It was in force for 36 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Jul 2, 2000, 4:54 PM CDT (21:54 UTC)
Expired: Jul 2, 2000, 5:30 PM CDT
In force: 36 min
Issued by: NWS Des Moines, IA
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Pocahontas County, IA

The radar

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 121 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:55 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
Jul 2, 5:00 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 65 E	Palmer, 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
Jul 2, 3:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 209 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: 592 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -369 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1518 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 74 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 78 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.

466 
WFUS53 KDMX 022155
TORDSM
IAC151-022230-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
454 PM CDT SUN JUL 2 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DES MOINES HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHEASTERN POCAHONTAS COUNTY IN NORTHWEST IOWA

* UNTIL 530 PM

* AT 450 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A     
  TORNADO NEAR PALMER...OR ABOUT 23 MILES NORTHWEST OF FORT          
  DODGE...  MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 10 MPH.

* THE TORNADO WILL BE...
  NEAR PALMER AROUND 500 PM

THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE DURING A TORNADO IS IN A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A
WORKBENCH OR OTHER PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.

THIS WARNING REPLACES THE PREVIOUS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR 
SOUTHEAST POCAHONTAS.

LAT...LON 4271 9449 4261 9469 4256 9464 4257 9445

MYERS
NNNN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 2, 5:35 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Emmet	40 min
Jul 2, 6:02 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Kossuth, Palo Alto	43 min
Jul 2, 2:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Kossuth	37 min
Jul 2, 3:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Humboldt	43 min
Jul 2, 3:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Worth	47 min
Jul 2, 3:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Pocahontas	55 min
Jul 2, 4:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Cerro Gordo	47 min
Jul 2, 4:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Pocahontas	26 min
Jul 2, 5:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Calhoun, Webster	63 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Iowa, 2000 Every tornado warning in 2000 Tornadoes in 2000

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.