Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 2000

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Quad Cities, IA

May 11, 2000Buchanan County, Iowa

NWS Quad Cities, IA issued this tornado warning at May 11, 2000, 7:58 PM CDT for Buchanan County, Iowa. It was in force for 32 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: May 11, 2000, 7:58 PM CDT (00:58 UTC)
Expired: May 11, 2000, 8:30 PM CDT
In force: 32 min
Issued by: NWS Quad Cities, IA
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Buchanan County, IA

The radar

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 154 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:00 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, 8:19 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Littleton, IA	A third tornado briefly touched down 3 miles southeast of Littleton. It produced F0 damage mainly to trees with a path length of only about an 1/8 mile.

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, 1.0 hours before the alert went out and 159 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 120059 COR
TORMLI
IAC019-120130-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN THE QUAD CITIES HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 830 PM CDT

* AT 757 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR AND SPOTTERS INDICATED A LARGE AND   
  POWERFUL TORNADO 5 MILES NORTH OF JESUP...MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE WAPSIPINICON GOLF COURSE...
  THREE ELMS COUNTY PARK AND OTTERVILLE

THIS IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND POTENTIALLY LIFE THREATENING
SITUATION. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS LARGE A;ND DESTRUCTIVE
TORNADO...TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY!

PERSONS FROM CUTSHAW BRIDGE STATE ACCESS...LITTLETON...JESUP AND 
OTTERVILLE SHOULD BE TAKING SHELTER NOW!

LAT...LON 4258 9208 4245 9207 4244 9184 4258 9185

MCCLURE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 11, 7:31 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DVN	Buchanan	29 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.