Alert archive / Iowa / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 184, NWS Des Moines, IA

July 7, 2003Jasper County, Marion County, Warren County, Iowa

NWS Des Moines, IA issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 7, 2003, 5:34 PM CDT for Jasper County, Marion County, Warren County, Iowa. It was in force for 56 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 7, 2003, 5:34 PM CDT (22:34 UTC)
Expired: Jul 7, 2003, 6:30 PM CDT
In force: 56 min
Issued by: NWS Des Moines, IA
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Jasper County, IA, Marion County, IA, Warren County, IA

The radar

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 36 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:38 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.

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
Jul 7, 3:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Davenport, (KDVN), launched 12:00Z, 10.6 hours before the alert went out and 236 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: 611 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -254 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1669 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 113 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 148 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

179 
WUUS53 KDMX 072234
SVRDMX
IAC099-125-181-072330-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
534 PM CDT MON JUL 7 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DES MOINES HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  WESTERN JASPER COUNTY IN CENTRAL IOWA
  NORTHWESTERN MARION COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL IOWA
  NORTHEASTERN WARREN COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL IOWA

* UNTIL 630 PM CDT

* AT 533 PM...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 7 MILES WEST OF PRAIRIE CITY...OR ABOUT 13
  MILES EAST OF DES MOINES...MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE...

  7 MILES NORTH OF SWAN AROUND 540 PM...
  NEAR PRAIRIE CITY AROUND 550 PM...
  7 MILES SOUTH OF COLFAX AROUND 555 PM...
  5 MILES NORTH OF MONROE AROUND 610 PM...
  7 MILES SOUTH OF LAMBS GROVE AROUND 620 PM AND
  NEAR REASNOR AROUND 625 PM.

DAMAGING HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF GOLFBALLS IS LIKELY IN THE WARNED
AREA.

LARGE HAIL CAN CAUSE SERIOUS INJURY AND EXTENSIVE PROPERTY DAMAGE.
SEEK SAFETY IN A STURDY BUILDING...AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 PM MONDAY
EVENING FOR SOUTHERN IOWA.

LAT...LON 4181 9335 4150 9334 4150 9367 4134 9366
          4132 9302 4181 9301

JAW

$$

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 Des Moines, IA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jul 7, 3:50 PM CDT, 1 hour 44 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 7, 3:50 PM CDT, 1 hour 44 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
350 PM CDT MON JUL 7 2003

SINGLE LRG CELL HAS FIRED ON THE H8 FNT AND THIS WL LIKELY BE THE
FOCUS THE REST OF THE NGT. LAST NGT WL COULDNT GET BOO FM A DECENT
BNDRY...BUT THE H8 WAS TO OUR NW. DID NOT MESS MUCH WITH THE
ON-GOING 7 DAY FCST. DECENT POPS TNGT AND TMR AS THE BNDRY WAVES N
AND S ACRS IA NXT 48HRS. THERE IS PUSH TO THE N TNGT...BUT NOT SURE
IF THE MV WL BE THAT FAR. STILL LOOKING LIKE TUE NGT AND WED AS THE
MAIN BNDRY MOVS THRU TO BE THE BEST THREAT PD OF SGNFT WDSPRD RAINS.
IMPRVG WX RPDLY THU WITH NEG PCPN AND LOWER DWPTS INTO THE WKEND.
NXT THREAT SHAPING UP AT DAY 7 WITH RETURN FLOW AND STG H8 MOISTURE
ADV. MINOR CHGS TO PREVIOUSLY FCST HIGHS/LOWS.

.DSM...NONE

MYERS

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 7, 11:25 AM CDT, 6 hours 9 minutes before

IAZ004>007-015>017-023>028-033>039-044>050-057>062-070>075-081>086-
092>097-081100-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
1125 AM CDT SUN JUL 7 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL IOWA.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT

A FRONT EXTENDING ACROSS CENTRAL IOWA WILL COMBINE WITH A
MOIST...UNSTABLE AIR MASS TO PRODUCE A RICH ENVIRONMENT FOR STRONG
THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT LATE TONIGHT.  A LARGE COMPLEX OF SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS OVER WESTERN NEBRASKA WILL ADVANCE EAST ALONG THE
FRONTAL BOUNDARY AND ENTER WESTERN IOWA BEFORE SUNRISE.  THE MOST
FAVORED AREA OF THE STATE IS FROM U.S. HIGHWAY 20 SOUTH.  THE SEVERE
WEATHER RISK IS HIGH WINDS...WITH SECONDARY HAZARDS BEING HAIL AND
FLOODING.  DUE TO THE FAST MOVEMENT OF THE STORMS...IT APPEARS
FLOODING WILL BE LIMITED HOWEVER.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY

THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE OCCURRING AT THE BEGINNING OF THE PERIOD AND
RACE EAST ACROSS THE STATE PRODUCING HIGH WINDS THROUGH THE MID
MORNING HOURS.  ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP TUESDAY DURING
THE DAY AND CONTINUE WELL INTO THE NIGHTTIME HOURS.  A FEW SEVERE
STORMS ARE POSSIBLE...WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS THE MAIN
THREATS. THE MAIN AREA OF CONCERN IS SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 20. YET
ANOTHER THUNDERSTORM COMPLEX COULD PRODUCE MORE HEAVY RAIN AND
DAMAGING WINDS DURING THE DAY WEDNESDAY...MAINLY OVER THE SOUTH HALF
OF THE STATE.  MAINLY DRY CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED OVER CENTRAL IOWA
BY LATER WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION LATE TONIGHT OVER...MAINLY OVER SOUTHERN AND
CENTRAL IOWA.  ACTIVATION IS LIKELY AGAIN TUESDAY NIGHT AND
WEDNESDAY.
&&

MORE INFORMATION CAN BE OBTAINED AT WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/DMX (ALL LOWER
CASE).

MS JUL 03

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 7, 4:48 PM CDT, 46 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
0448 PM CDT MON JUL 07 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0446 PM    1 S NEWTON                IA   1.75 IN HAIL
07/07/03   JASPER                         REPORTED BY TRAINED
                                          SPOTTER.

BF

Local storm report, Jul 7, 4:56 PM CDT, 38 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
0456 PM CDT MON JUL 07 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0454 PM    NEWTON                    IA   1.50 IN HAIL
07/07/03   JASPER                         REPORTED BY TRAINED
                                          SPOTTER.

0452 PM    NEWTON                    IA   4.25 IN HAIL
07/07/03   JASPER                         REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT.

0451 PM    NEWTON                    IA   1.75 IN HAIL
07/07/03   JASPER                         REPORTED BY LAW
                                          ENFORCEMENT.

BF

Local storm report, Jul 7, 5:00 PM CDT, 34 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
0500 PM CDT MON JUL 07 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0456 PM    LAMBS GROVE               IA   2.75 IN HAIL
07/07/03   JASPER                         REPORTED BY TRAINED
                                          SPOTTER.

0453 PM    NEWTON                    IA   2.75 IN HAIL
07/07/03   JASPER                         REPORTED BY TRAINED
                                          SPOTTER.

0452 PM    NEWTON                    IA   0.75 IN HAIL
07/07/03   JASPER                         REPORTED BY TRAINED
                                          SPOTTER.

BF

Local storm report, Jul 7, 5:03 PM CDT, 31 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
0503 PM CDT MON JUL 07 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0445 PM    SW NEWTON                 IA   1.00 IN HAIL
07/07/03   JASPER                         REPORTED BY AMATEUR RADIO
                                          OPERATOR.

0443 PM    1 S NEWTON                IA   0.88 IN HAIL
07/07/03   JASPER                         REPORTED BY AMATEUR RADIO
                                          OPERATOR.

BF

Local storm report, Jul 7, 5:06 PM CDT, 28 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
0506 PM CDT MON JUL 07 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0452 PM    SW NEWTON                 IA   2.75 IN HAIL
07/07/03   JASPER                         REPORTED BY AMATEUR RADIO
                                          OPERATOR.

0452 PM    NEWTON                    IA   1.00 IN HAIL
07/07/03   JASPER                         REPORTED BY AMATEUR RADIO
                                          OPERATOR.

BF

Local storm report, Jul 7, 5:15 PM CDT, 19 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DES MOINES IA
0515 PM CDT MON JUL 07 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0511 PM    DES MOINES                IA   1.00 IN HAIL
07/07/03   POLK                           REPORTED BY TRAINED
                                          SPOTTER. INTERSECTION OF
                                          SOUTH UNION AND DAVIS AVE.

BF

The office that day

Everything else NWS Des Moines, IA issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 7, 1:02 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Emmet	43 min
Jul 7, 1:25 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Franklin	20 min
Jul 7, 2:08 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Tama	37 min
Jul 7, 2:38 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Butler	22 min
Jul 7, 2:53 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Black Hawk	37 min
Jul 7, 3:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Jasper	49 min
Jul 7, 4:05 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Jasper, Marion	55 min
Jul 7, 4:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Jasper	46 min
Jul 7, 4:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Polk	50 min
Jul 7, 5:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Jasper	49 min
Jul 7, 5:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Polk	61 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Iowa, 2003 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2003

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.