Alert archive / Iowa / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 770

July 20, 200328 counties in Iowa; 21 counties in Minnesota; Brookings County, South Dakota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at Jul 20, 2003, 6:45 AM CDT for 28 counties in Iowa; 21 counties in Minnesota; Brookings County, South Dakota. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jul 20, 2003, 6:45 AM CDT (11:45 UTC)
Expired
Jul 20, 2003, 12:00 PM CDT
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 50 counties

Buena Vista County, IA, Butler County, IA, Calhoun County, IA, Cerro Gordo County, IA, Cherokee County, IA, Clay County, IA, Dickinson County, IA, Emmet County, IA, Floyd County, IA, Franklin County, IA, Grundy County, IA, Hamilton County, IA, Hancock County, IA, Hardin County, IA, Humboldt County, IA, Ida County, IA, Kossuth County, IA, Lyon County, IA, O'Brien County, IA, Osceola County, IA, Palo Alto County, IA, Pocahontas County, IA, Sac County, IA, Sioux County, IA, Webster County, IA, Winnebago County, IA, Worth County, IA, Wright County, IA, Blue Earth County, MN, Brown County, MN, Cottonwood County, MN, Faribault County, MN, Freeborn County, MN, Jackson County, MN, Le Sueur County, MN, Lincoln County, MN, Lyon County, MN, Martin County, MN, Murray County, MN, Nicollet County, MN, Nobles County, MN, Pipestone County, MN, Redwood County, MN, Rice County, MN, Rock County, MN, Sibley County, MN, Steele County, MN, Waseca County, MN, Watonwan County, MN, Brookings County, SD

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 148 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 11:47 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.

Warnings issued inside it

11 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 20, 9:12 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDLyon33 min
Jul 20, 9:22 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDO'Brien38 min
Jul 20, 9:41 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDO'Brien, Sioux34 min
Jul 20, 10:08 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDCherokee, O'Brien, Plymouth, Sioux22 min
Jul 20, 10:09 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDCherokee, Plymouth36 min
Jul 20, 10:11 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDCottonwood34 min
Jul 20, 10:29 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDBuena Vista, Cherokee31 min
Jul 20, 11:00 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDBuena Vista30 min
Jul 20, 11:11 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDRock34 min
Jul 20, 11:35 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDNobles25 min
Jul 20, 11:57 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFSDLyon, Osceola33 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

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 00:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 147 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, Minneapolis, MN at 00:00Z on 2003-07-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 3136 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, Minneapolis, MN at 00:00Z on 2003-07-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 125 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
3136 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
793 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
125 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
180 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.9
Supercell composite
13.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 20, 4:14 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCHoward, Mitchell, Winnebago, Winneshiek, Worth3 hr
Jul 20, 10:07 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBuena Vista, Calhoun, Cherokee, Clay, Dickinson, Emmet and 13 more53 min
Jul 20, 2:09 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCrawford, Harrison, Monona, Plymouth, Pottawattamie, Shelby and 2 more66 min
Jul 20, 2:50 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAdair, Adams, Audubon, Buena Vista, Carroll, Cass and 20 more6 hr
Jul 20, 5:29 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdair, Adams, Audubon, Carroll, Cass, Cherokee and 17 more91 min
Jul 19, 7:16 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeltrami, Clearwater, Itasca, Kittson, Koochiching, Marshall and 5 more89 min
Jul 19, 11:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBecker, Beltrami, Clay, Clearwater, Hubbard, Mahnomen and 7 more5 hr
Jul 20, 1:15 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBig Stone, Chippewa, Cottonwood, Douglas, Grant, Jackson and 15 more6 hr
Jul 20, 2:03 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBig Stone, Chippewa, Grant, Lac qui Parle, Lincoln, Lyon and 6 more117 min
Jul 20, 3:05 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBecker, Clay, Grant, Norman, Otter Tail, Wilkin4 hr
Jul 20, 1:16 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeltrami, Cook, Itasca, Koochiching, Lake, Lake of the Woods and 2 more119 min
Jul 20, 1:55 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCCarlton, Lake, Saint Louis7 hr
Jul 20, 3:27 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCarlton, Lake, Saint Louis63 min
Jul 20, 5:14 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCLincoln, Lyon, Murray, Pipestone, Rock, Yellow Medicine2 hr
Jul 20, 6:47 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCLake, Saint Louis88 min
Jul 19, 11:58 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBrown, Clark, Codington, Day, Deuel, Edmunds and 6 more62 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Iowa, 2003Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Minnesota, 2003Severe Thunderstorm Watches in South Dakota, 2003Every 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.