Alert archive / Missouri / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 4, NWS St. Louis, MO

May 4, 2003Iron County, Washington County, Missouri

NWS St. Louis, MO issued this tornado warning at May 4, 2003, 11:09 PM CDT for Iron County, Washington County, Missouri. It was in force for 51 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: May 4, 2003, 11:09 PM CDT (04:09 UTC)
Expired: May 5, 2003, 12:00 AM CDT
In force: 51 min
Issued by: NWS St. Louis, MO
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Iron County, MO, Washington County, MO

The radar

The St Louis radar (KLSX), 102 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:08 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.

The watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 4, 6:05 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr
May 4, 10:40 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 00:00Z, 4.2 hours before the alert went out and 272 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: 2099 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 756 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 74 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 321 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 341 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 4.6
Supercell composite: 15.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

387 
WFUS53 KLSX 050409
TORLSX
MOC093-221-050500-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ST LOUIS MO
1109 PM CDT SUN MAY 4 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ST LOUIS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN WASHINGTON COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL MISSOURI
  NORTHERN IRON COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

* UNTIL MIDNIGHT CDT

* AT 1109 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION NEAR VIBURNUM. THE STORM
  WAS MOVING EAST AT 50 MPH. THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING
  TORNADOES AND MAY PRODUCE ADDITIONAL TORNADOES AT ANY TIME

* LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
  COURTOIS
  BELGRADE
  CALEDONIA
  BELLEVIEW
  GRANITE
  IRONDALE

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM...SEEK SHELTER NOW MOVE TO A
BASEMENT...UNDERGROUND STORM SHELTER...OR AN INTERIOR ROOM OR HALLWAY
ON THE LOWEST LEVEL OF A STURDY BUILDING.

LAT...LON 3787 9111 3770 9116 3761 9066 3799 9066

$$
FG

The office that day

Everything else NWS St. Louis, MO issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 4, 9:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Gasconade	31 min
May 4, 10:40 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LSX	Crawford	50 min
May 4, 11:43 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	LSX	Saint Francois	47 min
May 4, 11:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Sainte Genevieve	47 min
May 5, 2:56 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Iron, Reynolds	49 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Missouri, 2003 Every tornado warning in 2003 Tornadoes 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.