Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 2002
Tornado Warning 26, NWS Des Moines, IA
NWS Des Moines, IA issued this tornado warning at Sep 18, 2002, 6:31 PM CDT for Taylor County, Iowa. It was in force for 44 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The outline as issued, with what was reported inside it.
The facts
- Issued
- Sep 18, 2002, 6:31 PM CDT (23:31 UTC)
- Expired
- Sep 18, 2002, 7:15 PM CDT
- In force
- 44 min
- Issued by
- NWS Des Moines, IA
- Area
- Counties, with a storm outline in the text
County Taylor County, IA
The radar
The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 142 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:34 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 18, 7:00 PM CDT | Hail 1 | Lenox, 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 18, 6:00 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 11.5 hours before the alert went out and 152 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
- 666 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -219 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 674 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 35 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 392 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 429 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 2.6
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
932 WFUS53 KDMX 182331 TORDSM IAC173-190015- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA 630 PM CDT WED SEP 18 2002 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DES MOINES HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... TAYLOR COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST IOWA * UNTIL 715 PM CDT * AT 629 PM...RADAR INDICATED A THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 5 MILES NORTHWEST OF GRAVITY...OR ABOUT 64 MILES SOUTHEAST OF COUNCIL BLUFFS...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH. * THE STORM WILL BE... 6 MILES NORTHWEST OF SHARPSBURG AROUND 635 PM AND 5 MILES NORTHWEST OF LENOX AROUND 655 PM. AT 625 PM...STORM SPOTTERS REPORTED A FUNNEL CLOUD 5 MILES NORTHWEST OF GRAVITY. THIS WARNING REPLACES THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING PREVIOUSLY ISSUED FOR THE WARNED AREA UNTIL 645 PM. THIS STORM IS ALSO CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HAIL UP TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER. A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT THURSDAY MORNING FOR WESTERN IOWA. LAT...LON 4058 9492 4058 9449 4090 9449 4090 9491 KINNEY
The office that day
Everything else NWS Des Moines, IA issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 18, 5:56 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Taylor | 49 min |
| Sep 18, 6:11 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Adams | 64 min |
| Sep 18, 6:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Adair, Cass | 60 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Iowa, 2002Every tornado warning in 2002Tornadoes in 2002
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.