Alert archive / Iowa / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 310

May 8, 200319 counties in Iowa; 19 counties in Nebraska

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 8, 2003, 5:30 PM CDT for 19 counties in Iowa; 19 counties in Nebraska. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 8, 2003, 5:30 PM CDT (22:30 UTC)
Expired: May 8, 2003, 11:00 PM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 38 counties

Adair County, IA, Adams County, IA, Audubon County, IA, Carroll County, IA, Cass County, IA, Crawford County, IA, Fremont County, IA, Greene County, IA, Guthrie County, IA, Harrison County, IA, Mills County, IA, Monona County, IA, Montgomery County, IA, Page County, IA, Pottawattamie County, IA, Ringgold County, IA, Shelby County, IA, Taylor County, IA, Union County, IA, Burt County, NE, Butler County, NE, Cass County, NE, Colfax County, NE, Cuming County, NE, Dodge County, NE, Douglas County, NE, Madison County, NE, Pierce County, NE, Platte County, NE, Polk County, NE, Sarpy County, NE, Saunders County, NE, Seward County, NE, Stanton County, NE, Thurston County, NE, Washington County, NE, Wayne County, NE, York County, NE

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 8, 5:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	OAX	Douglas, Washington	38 min
May 8, 8:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Taylor	37 min
May 8, 9:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Ringgold	34 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 12:00Z, 10.5 hours before the alert went out and 36 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1563 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 52 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 90 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 193 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 082225
SEL0  
SPC WW 082230
IAZ000-NEZ000-090400-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 310 
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 
530 PM CDT THU MAY 8 2003

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

       WESTERN IOWA
       EASTERN NEBRASKA

EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 530 PM UNTIL
1100 PM CDT.

HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 70
MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 50 STATUTE MILES
NORTH AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 30 MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF COLUMBUS
NEBRASKA TO 95 MILES EAST OF OMAHA NEBRASKA.

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.


OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 303...WW 304...WW 305...WW
306...WW 307...WW 308...


DISCUSSION...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP NEWD ACROSS WARM
FRONT WITH CONSIDERABLE ELEVATED INSTABILITY AVAILABLE.  LARGE HAIL
WILL BE DOMINATE THREAT

AVIATION...A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL SURFACE AND ALOFT
TO 3 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND GUSTS TO 60
KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500. MEAN STORM
MOTION VECTOR 24035.


...HALES

422,0975 420,0940 403,0940 405,0975

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 8, 3:51 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adair, Adams, Audubon, Cass, Clarke, Decatur and 13 more	3 hr
May 8, 4:15 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Adams, Appanoose, Clarke, Davis, Decatur, Fremont and 7 more	7 hr
May 8, 7:50 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Appanoose, Clarke, Davis, Decatur, Fremont and 7 more	85 min
May 8, 7:55 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Appanoose, Clarke, Davis, Decatur, Fremont and 7 more	95 min
May 8, 3:40 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Lee	5 hr
May 8, 4:18 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adair, Adams, Audubon, Carroll, Cass, Crawford and 11 more	57 min
May 7, 7:01 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Arthur, Chase, Cheyenne, Deuel, Dundy, Garden and 3 more	89 min
May 8, 1:10 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Chase, Dundy, Frontier, Furnas, Hayes, Hitchcock and 1 more	2 hr
May 8, 1:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Chase, Dawson, Dundy, Frontier, Furnas, Gosper and 4 more	6 hr
May 8, 1:50 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Adams, Clay, Dawson, Fillmore, Franklin, Gage and 13 more	7 hr
May 8, 3:26 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Franklin, Gage, Jefferson, Nuckolls, Pawnee and 3 more	2 hr
May 8, 3:35 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Chase, Dundy, Frontier, Furnas, Gosper, Hayes and 3 more	115 min
May 8, 6:38 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Clay, Fillmore, Franklin, Gage, Harlan and 11 more	2 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Iowa, 2003 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Nebraska, 2003 Every severe thunderstorm watch 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.