Alert archive / Iowa / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 1, NWS Quad Cities, IA

March 9, 20024 counties in Iowa; Scotland County, Missouri

NWS Quad Cities, IA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 9, 2002, 12:37 AM CST for 4 counties in Iowa; Scotland County, Missouri. It was in force for 68 min. 4 reports 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: Mar 9, 2002, 12:37 AM CST (06:37 UTC)
Expired: Mar 9, 2002, 1:45 AM CST
In force: 68 min
Issued by: NWS Quad Cities, IA
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Iowa County, IA, Jefferson County, IA, Keokuk County, IA, Van Buren County, IA, Scotland County, MO

The radar

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 121 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:40 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
Mar 9, 12:47 AM CST	Thunderstorm Wind 65 E	Cedar, IA
Mar 9, 12:52 AM CST	Thunderstorm Wind 52 E	Ottumwa, IA
Mar 9, 1:05 AM CST	Thunderstorm Wind 52 E	Victor, IA
Mar 9, 1:45 AM CST	Thunderstorm Wind 61 E	Memphis, MO	Machine shed damaged.

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.

Did it verify

Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this severe thunderstorm warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.

Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Mar 8, 11:30 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Davenport, (KDVN), launched 00:00Z, 6.6 hours before the alert went out and 171 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: 184 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -106 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1023 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 55 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 192 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 264 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS53 KDVN 090637
SVRMLI
IAC095-101-107-177-MOC199-090745-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
1234 AM CST SAT MAR 9 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN THE QUAD CITIES HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  IOWA COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL IOWA
  KEOKUK COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST IOWA
  JEFFERSON COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST IOWA
  VAN BUREN COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST IOWA
  SCOTLAND COUNTY IN NORTHEAST MISSOURI

* UNTIL 145 AM CST

* AT 1234 AM CST NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY DAMAGING WINDS ALONG A LINE
  EXTENDING FROM 3 MILES NORTHEAST OF SULLY TO 13 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
  BLOOMFIELD...MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED BY THIS STORM INCLUDE...
  MARENGO
  NORTH ENGLISH
  SIGOURNEY
  VICTOR
  WILLIAMSBURG
  MEMPHIS
  FAIRFIELD
  KEOSAUQUA

THESE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE CAPABLE OF WINDS OF 55 TO 65 MPH AND 
SMALL HAIL. TAKE COVER IN A STURDY STRUCTURE UNTIL THESE STORMS PASS.

THESE STORMS HAVE A HISTORY OF PRODUCING DAMAGING WINDS.

THESE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE PRODUCING HEAVY RAINFALL...WHICH MAY
FLOOD LOW LYING AREAS SUCH AS DITCHES AND UNDERPASSES. AVOID THESE
AREAS AND DO NOT CROSS FLOODED ROADS AS THEY MAY BE WASHED OUT.

REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY FOR RELAY
TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST OFFICE IN THE QUAD CITIES.

LAT...LON 4172 9286 4180 9201 4034 9198 4036 9262

$$

MCCLURE

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Quad Cities, IA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Mar 8, 1:23 PM CST, 11 hours 14 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 8, 1:23 PM CST, 11 hours 14 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE QUAD CITIES IA IL
123 PM CST FRI MAR 8 2002

IMPRESSIVE SPRING STORM SYSTEM TO AFFECT CWFA NEXT 30 HOURS. AVN HAS
BEEN THE MORE CONSISTENT MODEL WITH THE ETA SLOWING DOWN TO THE
AVN. STRONG QG FORCING WITH NICE THETA E RIDGE AND NEGATIVE
SHOWALTERS POINT TO TSRA TONIGHT. INITIAL LEAD SHORTWAVE ALREADY
DEVELOPING PRECIP AND MAY PROVIDE A FIRST PUNCH. SECOND MORE POTENT
PUNCH TO BE WITH COLD FRONT THAT MOVES THROUGH CWFA BETWEEN 06-12Z
TIME PERIOD. STORMS COULD BE QUITE STRONG WITH SECOND PUNCH
WITH WIND AND SMALL HAIL. WE HAD NEAR SEVERE THIS AM AND SEE
NO REASON WHY IT WOULDN/T HAPPEN AGAIN. FORECAST SOUNDINGS CRASH IN A
SIX HOUR TIME PERIOD ON SATURDAY MORNING. SHEAR FORCE OF CAA SHOULD
HELP WRING OUT SOME -SN BUT ACCUMULATIONS SHOULD BE A HALF INCH AT
BEST. WINDS THE REAL PROBLEM SATURDAY. FAR WESTERN CWFA SHOULD JUST
BE UNDER ADVISORY CRITERIA AT 12Z...BUT ENTIRE CWFA WILL BE IN
ADVISORY CRITERIA BY 15Z. THEREFORE WILL RAISE HEADLINES FOR WIND
SATURDAY. CLOUDS TO CLEAR SATURDAY PM WITH QUIET WX EXPECTED
SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY.

GUIDANCE TEMPERATURES SHOW A WIDE SPREAD AND TRAJECTORY METHOD
REALLY DOESN/T WORK WHEN CHANGING AIRMASSES. IN ANY CASE...MAX
TEMPERATURES FOR SATURDAY DAY PERIOD WILL BE IN THE 12-13Z TIME
PERIOD WITH FALLING TEMPERATURES THE REST OF THE DAY.

EXTENDED WISE...WIDE VARIATIONS TO OCCUR DURING THE PERIOD WITH
WARM TEMPERATURES ONE DAY AND COLD THE NEXT. RIGHT NOW MONDAY LOOKS
DRY BUT CAN/T RULE OUT SOME WAA PRECIP DEVELOPING. AVN SAYS YES
WITH ETA SAYING NO. AVN USUALLY OVER DOES LIGHT PRECIP AND ETA SEEMS
TO HAVE A DRY BIAS. BETTER CHANGE WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY.

COORDINATED WITH DSM...LSE...MKE...ILX...AND STL.

.DVN...WIND ADVISORY SATURDAY.
IA...IAZ040>42-051>054-063>068-076>078-087>089-098-099.
IL...ILZ001-002-007-009-015>018-024>026-034-035.
MO...MOZ009-010.

86

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 9, 1:06 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Benton	39 min
Mar 9, 1:20 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Henry, Johnson, Lee, Washington	70 min
Mar 9, 1:43 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Buchanan, Linn	62 min
Mar 9, 2:35 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Des Moines	40 min
Mar 9, 2:50 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Scott	40 min
Mar 9, 3:05 AM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DVN	Clinton	40 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Iowa, 2002 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Missouri, 2002 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.