Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 25, NWS Omaha, NE

June 24, 2003Mills County, Iowa

NWS Omaha, NE issued this tornado warning at Jun 24, 2003, 5:07 PM CDT for Mills County, Iowa. It was in force for 23 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: Jun 24, 2003, 5:07 PM CDT (22:07 UTC)
Expired: Jun 24, 2003, 5:30 PM CDT
In force: 23 min
Issued by: NWS Omaha, NE
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Mills County, IA

The radar

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 65 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:09 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 tornado 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 nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 12:00Z, 10.1 hours before the alert went out and 233 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: 2592 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -120 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 731 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 27 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 10 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.

396 
WFUS53 KOAX 242207
TOROAX
IAC129-242230-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA NE
507 PM CDT TUE JUN 24 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN OMAHA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN MILLS COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST IOWA

* UNTIL 530 PM CDT

* AT 504 PM CDT...RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE STORM WITH A POSSIBLE
  TORNADO. THE MOST DANGEROUS PART OF THE STORM WAS LOCATED OVER
  SILVER CITY...OR ABOUT 23 MILES SOUTHEAST OF OMAHA...MOVING
  NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
  SILVER CITY AND HENDERSON

SPOTTERS REPORTED A FUNNEL CLOUD NEAR SILVER CITY ABOUT 500 PM CDT.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...GO TO A BASEMENT. IF A BASEMENT
IS NOT AVAILABLE...TAKE COVER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST LEVEL
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS. AVOID WINDOWS.

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1000 PM CDT TUESDAY EVENING
FOR NORTHEAST NEBRASKA.

LAT...LON 4110 9579 4097 9562 4115 9538 4116 9569

$$

DEWALD

What forecasters said that day

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

NWS Omaha, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Jun 24, 3:33 PM CDT, 1 hour 34 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 24, 3:33 PM CDT, 1 hour 34 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
333 PM CDT TUE JUN 24 2003

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AND FLOODING ARE AGAIN THE MAIN FORECAST ISSUES.

A VERY UNSTABLE AIRMASS COVERS THE ENTIRE AREA WITH MORNING
BOUNDARIES FORCED NORTH INTO SD.  18Z SOUNDING HAD EXTREME LOW LEVEL
MOISTURE WEAKLY CAPPED BY MID LEVEL DRY LAYER...BUT CAP IS NOW
BROKEN IN SE NEBRASKA.  WITH A LACK OF LOW LEVEL BOUNDARIES FOR
FOCUS...AND ONLY MODEST LOW LEVEL SHEAR...IMMEDIATE SEVERE POTENTIAL
WILL LIKELY BE PULSE TYPE STORMS.  CONVECTION LIKELY MUCH MORE
ORGANIZED IN TOR WATCH AREA OF NORTHEAST NEBRASKA...WHERE OUTFLOW/
FRONTAL BOUNDARIES ARE LIKELY TO SET UP. STRONG LOW LEVEL JET RIDING
OVER ANY BOUNDARY WILL ALSO SET UP FLOOD POTENTIAL IN ADDITION TO
ONGOING FLOODING IN KNOX COUNTY.  FLOOD WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR
TONIGHT.

12Z MESOETA HAD A REASONABLE IDEA FOR OVERALL PROGRESS OF COLD FRONT
ON WED.  THIS WOULD LEAVE THE CHC OF MORE SEVERE WEATHER IN THE
SOUTHEAST PART OF THE AREA IN THE AFTERNOON...BUT MAINLY SOME
LEFTOVER SHOWERS AND TSTMS IN THE NORTHWEST...ALONG WITH MUCH COOLER
TEMPS.  RAIN SHOULD END EARLY WED NIGHT FOLLOWED BY CLEARING AND
COOLER ALL AREAS.

FEW CHANGES TO LATER PERIODS OF THE FORECAST.  PUT IN A SLIGHT
CHANCE OF TSTMS AS THE NEXT FRONT COMES THROUGH SAT INTO SAT NIGHT.

.OMA...FLOOD WATCH THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT  KNOX...CEDAR...WAYNE...
       PIERCE...AND ANTELOPE COUNTIES

POLLACK

Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 24, 5:00 PM CDT, 7 minutes before

IAZ043-055-056-069-079-080-090-091-NEZ011-012-015>018-030>034-
042>045-050>053-065>068-078-088>093-251030-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA/VALLEY NE
500 PM CDT TUE JUN 24 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PARTS OF EASTERN NEBRASKA
AND SOUTHWEST IOWA.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS ALL OF EASTERN NEBRASKA
AND SOUTHWEST IOWA TONIGHT. LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS AND A FEW
TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE WITH THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON ACROSS
PARTS OF SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA.

THE ATMOSPHERE IS VERY UNSTABLE LATE THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS THE
AREA. WIND SHEAR WILL BE FAVORABLE FOR SUPERCELL STORMS TO
DEVELOP THIS EVENING OVER MUCH OF THE OUTLOOK AREA.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY

THE CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE INTO WEDNESDAY NIGHT
FOR PARTS OF SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA AS A
COLD FRONT MOVES ACROSS EASTERN NEBRASKA AND SOUTHWEST IOWA.
SOME STORMS COULD BE SEVERE...PRODUCING LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING
WINDS. CURRENTLY IT APPEARS THE MAIN THREAT FOR SEVERE WEATHER
WEDNESDAY NIGHT WILL GENERALLY BE SOUTH OF A LINE FROM BEATRICE
TO ONAWA IOWA.

STORM SPOTTERS WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT.

FOBERT

The office that day

Everything else NWS Omaha, NE issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 24, 4:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Mills	31 min
Jun 24, 4:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Mills	34 min
Jun 24, 5:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Pottawattamie	48 min
Jun 24, 5:48 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	OAX	Pottawattamie	27 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Iowa, 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.