Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 2000

Tornado Warning 48, NWS Omaha, NE

July 26, 2000Pottawattamie County, Shelby County, Iowa

NWS Omaha, NE issued this tornado warning at Jul 26, 2000, 5:26 PM CDT for Pottawattamie County, Shelby County, Iowa. It was in force for 34 min. 5 reports 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 26, 2000, 5:26 PM CDT (22:26 UTC)
Expired: Jul 26, 2000, 6:00 PM CDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Omaha, NE
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

Counties Pottawattamie County, IA, Shelby County, IA

The radar

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 101 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:26 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 26, 5:43 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Atlantic, IA
Jul 26, 5:55 PM CDT	Hail 2.75	Walnut, IA
Jul 26, 6:00 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Walnut, IA	A brief touchdown of a very narrow and short-lived tornado. The storm spotter that reported it said it appeared and then dissipated in a matter of 15 or 20 seconds, "it was very snake-like in appearance" according to the spotter.
Jul 26, 6:03 PM CDT	Hail 2.75	Atlantic, IA
Jul 26, 6:07 PM CDT	Hail 2.75	Atlantic, 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 26, 2:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 101 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: 1188 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -204 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 918 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 28 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 22 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS53 KOAX 262227
TOROMA

IAC155-165-262300-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
526 PM CDT WED JUL 26 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN OMAHA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHEAST POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST IOWA
  SOUTHEAST SHELBY COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST IOWA

* UNTIL 600 PM CDT

* AT 521 PM CDT...RADAR INDICATED A THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION
  AND A POSSIBLE TORNADO 4 MILES NORTH OF WALNUT...OR ABOUT 46 MILES
  NORTHEAST OF OMAHA...MOVING SOUTH AT 15 MPH.

SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THE TORNADO THROUGH 600 PM CDT
 INCLUDE...WALNUT AND SURROUNDING RURAL AREAS

THIS REPLACES THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING PREVIOUSLY ISSUED FOR 
SHELBY COUNTY.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...GO TO A BASEMENT. IF A BASEMENT
IS NOT AVAILABLE...TAKE COVER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST LEVEL
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS. AVOID WINDOWS.

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM CDT WEDNESDAY EVENING
FOR SOUTHWESTERN IOWA AND EASTERN NEBRASKA.

LAT...LON 4160 9507 4161 9531 4129 9537 4127 9507

MEAD

The office that day

Everything else NWS Omaha, NE issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 26, 5:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Shelby	39 min
Jul 26, 5:58 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Pottawattamie	32 min
Jul 26, 6:28 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Pottawattamie	47 min
Jul 26, 6:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Montgomery	38 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.