Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 2000

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Quad Cities, IA

May 11, 2000Buchanan County, Iowa

NWS Quad Cities, IA issued this tornado warning at May 11, 2000, 7:31 PM CDT for Buchanan County, Iowa. It was in force for 29 min. 2 reports 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: May 11, 2000, 7:31 PM CDT (00:31 UTC)
Expired: May 11, 2000, 8:00 PM CDT
In force: 29 min
Issued by: NWS Quad Cities, IA
Area: Whole counties

County Buchanan County, IA

The radar

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 141 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:34 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
May 11, 7:45 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Fairbank, IA	A weak tornado, which produced no damage in Buchanan County, moved into the extreme northwest part of the county from Black Hawk County around 8 pm CDT. The tornado was rated an F0 with an estimated path length of 2 miles. This is likely the decaying stage o
May 11, 7:52 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Fairbank, 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
May 11, 6:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Davenport, (KDVN), launched 00:00Z, 0.5 hours before the alert went out and 145 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: 2323 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -39 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1261 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 171 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 218 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.8
Supercell composite: 13.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS53 KDVN 120032
TORMLI
IAC019-120100-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
731 PM CDT THU MAY 11 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN THE QUAD CITIES HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHWESTERN BUCHANAN COUNTY IN NORTHEAST IOWA

* UNTIL 800 PM CDT

* AT 730 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR AND SPOTTERS INDICATED A TORNADO 10
  MILES NORTHWEST OF JESUP GOLF COURSE...OR 7 MILES NORTH OF ELK RUN
  HEIGHTS...MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  6 MILES SOUTH OF FAIRBANK BY 750 PM CDT.
   LITTLETON BY 755 PM CDT.
   FONTANA COUNTY PARK/CAMPGROUND BY 800 PM CDT.

THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE DURING A TORNADO IS IN A BASEMENT. SEEK
SHELTER ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF THE BUILDING IN AN INTERIOR HALLWAY OR
ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET. USE BLANKETS OR PILLOWS TO COVER YOUR BODY AND
ALWAYS STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNI>GHT CDT FRIDAY MORNING
FOR EASTERN IOWA AND NORTHWESTERN ILLINOIS.


DLF

The office that day

Everything else NWS Quad Cities, IA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 11, 7:58 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DVN	Buchanan	32 min
May 11, 8:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DVN	Buchanan	45 min
May 11, 9:06 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DVN	Delaware	39 min
May 11, 9:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Buchanan	41 min
May 11, 9:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Delaware	42 min
May 11, 10:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Dubuque	48 min
May 12, 12:56 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Benton	49 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.