Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 2001
Tornado Warning 61, NWS Des Moines, IA
NWS Des Moines, IA issued this tornado warning at Sep 20, 2001, 3:18 PM CDT for Hancock County, Iowa. It was in force for 42 min. 3 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
- Sep 20, 2001, 3:18 PM CDT (20:18 UTC)
- Expired
- Sep 20, 2001, 4:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 42 min
- Issued by
- NWS Des Moines, IA
- Area
- Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction
County Hancock County, IA
The radar
The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 155 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:20 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 20, 3:18 PM CDT | Hail 1.75 | Woden, IA | |
| Sep 20, 3:45 PM CDT | Hail 2 | Garner, IA | |
| Sep 20, 3:54 PM CDT | Hail 0.75 | Ventura, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 20, 3:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 292 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1212 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -230 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1162 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 36 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 125 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 156 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- -0.2
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
233 WFUS53 KDMX 202018 TORDSM IAC081-202100- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 318 PM CDT THU SEP 20 2001 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DES MOINES HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... HANCOCK COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL IOWA * UNTIL 400 PM CDT * AT 315 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 6 MILES NORTHWEST OF BRITT...OR ABOUT 34 MILES WEST OF MASON CITY...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH. * THE TORNADO WILL BE... NEAR BRITT AROUND 330 PM NEAR GARNER AROUND 350 PM IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...GO TO A NEARBY REINFORCED BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT...GET IN A CULVERT OR DITCH AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS. A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM THURSDAY EVENING FOR IOWA. LAT...LON 4325 9398 4293 9399 4292 9349 4326 9352 JOHNSON
The office that day
Everything else NWS Des Moines, IA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 20, 11:14 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Union | 26 min |
| Sep 20, 11:57 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Adams, Taylor | 38 min |
| Sep 20, 12:11 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Warren | 29 min |
| Sep 20, 2:11 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Kossuth | 39 min |
| Sep 20, 2:42 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Worth | 38 min |
| Sep 20, 2:47 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Hancock, Kossuth, Winnebago | 43 min |
| Sep 20, 3:19 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Worth | 31 min |
| Sep 20, 3:22 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Kossuth | 28 min |
| Sep 20, 3:43 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Humboldt, Wright | 47 min |
| Sep 20, 3:46 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Cerro Gordo | 44 min |
| Sep 20, 4:16 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Warren | 29 min |
| Sep 20, 4:16 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Franklin | 44 min |
| Sep 20, 4:27 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Wright | 28 min |
| Sep 20, 4:36 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Butler | 44 min |
| Sep 20, 4:41 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Marion, Warren | 49 min |
| Sep 20, 4:52 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Lucas | 38 min |
| Sep 20, 4:55 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | DMX | Warren | 35 min |
| Sep 20, 4:56 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Hamilton, Hardin | 44 min |
| Sep 20, 5:07 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | DMX | Lucas | 28 min |
| Sep 20, 5:16 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Mahaska | 39 min |
| Sep 20, 5:29 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | DMX | Lucas | 31 min |
| Sep 20, 5:44 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Monroe | 31 min |
| Sep 20, 6:05 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | DMX | Appanoose | 30 min |
| Sep 20, 6:12 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Lucas | 43 min |
| Sep 20, 6:31 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Davis | 29 min |
| Sep 20, 6:50 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Appanoose | 40 min |
| Sep 20, 6:57 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Davis | 18 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Iowa, 2001Every tornado warning in 2001Tornadoes in 2001
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.