Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 40, NWS Omaha, NE

July 20, 2003Monona County, Iowa

NWS Omaha, NE issued this tornado warning at Jul 20, 2003, 7:12 PM CDT for Monona County, Iowa. It was in force for 48 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 20, 2003, 7:12 PM CDT (00:12 UTC)
Expired
Jul 20, 2003, 8:00 PM CDT
In force
48 min
Issued by
NWS Omaha, NE
Area
Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Monona County, IA

The radar

The Omaha radar (KOAX), 93 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:12 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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Jul 20, 2:50 PM CDTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 00:00Z, 0.2 hours before the alert went out and 93 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 2003-07-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 4827 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 2003-07-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 92 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
4827 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-30 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1616 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
92 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
162 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.4
Supercell composite
28.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS53 KOAX 210012
TOROAX
IAC133-210100-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OMAHA NE
711 PM CDT SUN JUL 20 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN OMAHA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  MONONA COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL IOWA

* UNTIL 800 PM CDT

* AT 707 PM CDT...RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE STORM WITH A POSSIBLE
  TORNADO. THE MOST DANGEROUS PART OF THE STORM WAS LOCATED 6 MILES
  WEST OF RODNEY...OR ABOUT 25 MILES SOUTHEAST OF SIOUX CITY...MOVING
  SOUTH AT 10 MPH.

* LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
  RODNEY
  WHITING
  CASTANA
  TURIN
  ONAWA

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.

LAT...LON 4221 9594 4221 9619 4198 9616 4197 9584

$$

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 20, 7:56 PM CDTTornado WarningOAXHarrison49 min
Jul 20, 9:33 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXMills, Montgomery42 min

Nearby

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