Alert archive / Minnesota / Tornado Watches in 2003

Tornado Watch 706

July 9, 200316 counties in Iowa; 29 counties in Minnesota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 9, 2003, 7:50 PM CDT for 16 counties in Iowa; 29 counties in Minnesota. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 9, 2003, 7:50 PM CDT (00:50 UTC)
Expired: Jul 10, 2003, 1:00 AM CDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 45 counties

Black Hawk County, IA, Bremer County, IA, Butler County, IA, Cerro Gordo County, IA, Chickasaw County, IA, Floyd County, IA, Franklin County, IA, Grundy County, IA, Hamilton County, IA, Hancock County, IA, Hardin County, IA, Kossuth County, IA, Mitchell County, IA, Winnebago County, IA, Worth County, IA, Wright County, IA, Anoka County, MN, Benton County, MN, Blue Earth County, MN, Brown County, MN, Carver County, MN, Dakota County, MN, Dodge County, MN, Douglas County, MN, Faribault County, MN, Freeborn County, MN, Hennepin County, MN, Kandiyohi County, MN, Le Sueur County, MN, McLeod County, MN, Meeker County, MN, Mille Lacs County, MN, Mower County, MN, Nicollet County, MN, Ramsey County, MN, Renville County, MN, Rice County, MN, Scott County, MN, Sherburne County, MN, Sibley County, MN, Stearns County, MN, Steele County, MN, Waseca County, MN, Watonwan County, MN, Wright County, MN

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 41 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:52 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 9, 8:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Winnebago, Worth	56 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, 0.8 hours before the alert went out and 40 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: 166 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -87 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 669 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 159 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 188 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 1.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WWUS20 KWNS 100046
SEL6  
SPC WW 100050
IAZ000-MNZ000-100600-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 706 
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 
750 PM CDT WED JUL 9 2003

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

       NORTHERN AND EASTERN IOWA
       CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MINNESOTA

EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY MORNING FROM 750 PM
UNTIL 100 AM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 55 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 50 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 40 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF ALEXANDRIA MINNESOTA TO
30 MILES SOUTHWEST OF WATERLOO IOWA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND 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.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO
WATCH NUMBER 698...TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 699. WATCH NUMBER 698 699
WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 750 PM CDT. CONTINUE...WW 700...WW
701...WW 702...WW 703...WW 704...WW 705...


DISCUSSION...SUPERCELLS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE DEVELOPING IN NARROW
ZONE OF SURFACE-BASED INSTABILITY EXTENDING SSEWD FROM CNTRL MN
UPPER VORT CENTER.  BACKED LOW LEVEL FLOW ALONG ERN EDGE OF
INSTABILITY AXIS... LOW TEMP/DEWPOINT SPREADS AND SUSTAINED LARGE
SCALE ASCENT SUGGEST CONTINUED THREAT FOR TORNADOES AND HAIL.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 50 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 550.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 30025.


...CORFIDI

460,0933 421,0914 421,0934 460,0953 

WWUS20 KWNS 100046
SEL6  
SPC WW 100050
IAZ000-MNZ000-100600-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 706 
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 
750 PM CDT WED JUL 9 2003

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

       NORTHERN AND EASTERN IOWA
       CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN MINNESOTA

EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY MORNING FROM 750 PM
UNTIL 100 AM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 55 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 50 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 40 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF ALEXANDRIA MINNESOTA TO
30 MILES SOUTHWEST OF WATERLOO IOWA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND 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.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO
WATCH NUMBER 698...TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 699. WATCH NUMBER 698 699
WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 750 PM CDT. CONTINUE...WW 700...WW
701...WW 702...WW 703...WW 704...WW 705...


DISCUSSION...SUPERCELLS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE DEVELOPING IN NARROW
ZONE OF SURFACE-BASED INSTABILITY EXTENDING SSEWD FROM CNTRL MN
UPPER VORT CENTER.  BACKED LOW LEVEL FLOW ALONG ERN EDGE OF
INSTABILITY AXIS... LOW TEMP/DEWPOINT SPREADS AND SUSTAINED LARGE
SCALE ASCENT SUGGEST CONTINUED THREAT FOR TORNADOES AND HAIL.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 50 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 550.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 30025.


...CORFIDI

460,0933 421,0914 421,0934 460,0953

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 9, 7:43 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Benton, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Butler, Cerro Gordo and 18 more	32 min
Jul 9, 8:04 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Davis, Des Moines, Henry, Jefferson, Lee, Louisa and 3 more	56 min
Jul 9, 8:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Des Moines, Henry, Iowa, Jefferson, Johnson, Keokuk and 5 more	6 hr
Jul 9, 10:00 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Butler, Cerro Gordo, Chickasaw and 11 more	60 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Minnesota, 2003 Tornado Watches in Iowa, 2003 Every tornado 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.