Alert archive / Iowa / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 352

May 28, 200223 counties in Iowa; 21 counties in Minnesota; 19 counties in Wisconsin

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 28, 2002, 1:45 PM CDT for 23 counties in Iowa; 21 counties in Minnesota; 19 counties in Wisconsin. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 28, 2002, 1:45 PM CDT (18:45 UTC)
Expired: May 28, 2002, 7:00 PM CDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 63 counties

Allamakee County, IA, Black Hawk County, IA, Bremer County, IA, Buchanan County, IA, Butler County, IA, Cerro Gordo County, IA, Chickasaw County, IA, Clayton County, IA, Delaware County, IA, Dubuque County, IA, Fayette County, IA, Floyd County, IA, Franklin County, IA, Grundy County, IA, Hamilton County, IA, Hancock County, IA, Hardin County, IA, Howard County, IA, Mitchell County, IA, Winnebago County, IA, Winneshiek County, IA, Worth County, IA, Wright County, IA, Anoka County, MN, Chisago County, MN, Dakota County, MN, Dodge County, MN, Fillmore County, MN, Freeborn County, MN, Goodhue County, MN, Hennepin County, MN, Houston County, MN, Isanti County, MN, Le Sueur County, MN, Mower County, MN, Olmsted County, MN, Ramsey County, MN, Rice County, MN, Scott County, MN, Steele County, MN, Wabasha County, MN, Waseca County, MN, Washington County, MN, Winona County, MN, Barron County, WI, Buffalo County, WI, Chippewa County, WI, Clark County, WI, Crawford County, WI, Dunn County, WI, Eau Claire County, WI, Grant County, WI, Jackson County, WI, La Crosse County, WI, Monroe County, WI, Pepin County, WI, Pierce County, WI, Polk County, WI, Rusk County, WI, Saint Croix County, WI, Taylor County, WI, Trempealeau County, WI, Vernon County, WI

The radar

The La Crosse radar (KARX), 104 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:45 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.

Warnings issued inside it

3 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 28, 1:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Blue Earth, Waseca	45 min
May 28, 4:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Black Hawk, Bremer	54 min
May 28, 6:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Black Hawk	33 min

The nearest sounding before it

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 6.8 hours before the alert went out and 162 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: 60 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -193 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1148 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 87 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 69 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 281844
SEL2  
SPC WW 281835
IAZ000-MNZ000-WIZ000-290000-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 352
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
135 PM CDT TUE MAY 28 2002

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   NORTHEAST IOWA                               
   EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST MINNESOTA                          
   WESTERN WISCONSIN                          

EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 145 PM UNTIL 700
PM CDT.

HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 60
MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 85 STATUTE MILES
EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 20 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF WATERLOO
IOWA TO 60 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF EAU CLAIRE WISCONSIN.

REMEMBER...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE
FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.  SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE
TORNADOES.

DISCUSSION...THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE DEVELOPING ALONG
DEEP CONVERGENCE ZONE CONNECTING NRN STREAM SHORTWAVE IMPULSE
/WHICH WAS OVER WY YESTERDAY/ AND CNTRL IA MCV /LEFT FROM OVERNIGHT
MCS IN NEB/.  SURFACE HEATING SHOULD CONTINUE AHEAD OF CONVERGENCE
ZONE...WHERE SELY LOW LEVEL FLOW INVOF WEAK WARM FRONT WILL
MAINTAIN SURFACE DEWPOINTS IN THE UPPER 50S/LOW 60S.  DEEP SHEAR IS
STRONGEST INVOF MCV /PER DMX VWP/...AND MAY BE SUFFICIENT TO YIELD 
ROTATING UPDRAFTS WITH HAIL/LOCALLY HIGH WINDS AND POSSIBLY AN
ISOLATED TORNADO GIVEN MID LEVEL TEMPERATURES AROUND MINUS 15C.   
 
AVIATION...A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL SURFACE AND ALOFT
TO 2 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND GUSTS TO 50
KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.  MEAN STORM
MOTION VECTOR 23025.

...CORFIDI

453,0901 421,0903 421,0935 453,0934

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 27, 10:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Woodbury	5 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Iowa, 2002 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Minnesota, 2002 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Wisconsin, 2002 Every severe thunderstorm watch 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.