Alert archive / Iowa / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2004

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 77

April 17, 200413 counties in Iowa; 13 counties in Minnesota

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at Apr 17, 2004, 7:45 PM CDT for 13 counties in Iowa; 13 counties in Minnesota. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Apr 17, 2004, 7:45 PM CDT (00:45 UTC)
Expired: Apr 18, 2004, 1:00 AM CDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 26 counties

Allamakee County, IA, Cerro Gordo County, IA, Chickasaw County, IA, Emmet County, IA, Floyd County, IA, Hancock County, IA, Howard County, IA, Kossuth County, IA, Mitchell County, IA, Palo Alto County, IA, Winnebago County, IA, Winneshiek County, IA, Worth County, IA, Blue Earth County, MN, Dodge County, MN, Faribault County, MN, Fillmore County, MN, Freeborn County, MN, Houston County, MN, Martin County, MN, Mower County, MN, Olmsted County, MN, Steele County, MN, Waseca County, MN, Watonwan County, MN, Winona County, MN

The radar

The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 133 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:45 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 17, 7:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Kossuth, Winnebago	44 min
Apr 17, 8:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Faribault, Martin	47 min
Apr 17, 8:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Winnebago	28 min
Apr 17, 8:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Steele	42 min
Apr 17, 8:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Freeborn	57 min
Apr 17, 8:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Dodge	52 min
Apr 17, 8:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Blue Earth	58 min
Apr 17, 8:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Worth	38 min
Apr 17, 9:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Faribault	45 min
Apr 17, 9:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Cerro Gordo	34 min
Apr 17, 9:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Worth	31 min
Apr 17, 9:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Freeborn	60 min
Apr 17, 9:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Olmsted	85 min
Apr 17, 9:37 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Cerro Gordo, Worth	38 min
Apr 17, 9:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Waseca	51 min
Apr 17, 9:41 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ARX	Floyd	64 min
Apr 17, 9:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Kossuth, Palo Alto	32 min
Apr 17, 9:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Mitchell	61 min
Apr 17, 9:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Faribault	46 min
Apr 17, 9:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Mower	29 min
Apr 17, 9:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Fillmore	83 min
Apr 17, 9:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Allamakee	47 min
Apr 17, 10:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Worth	47 min
Apr 17, 10:19 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	MPX	Freeborn	26 min
Apr 17, 10:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Winnebago	65 min
Apr 17, 10:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DMX	Kossuth	44 min
Apr 17, 10:33 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Worth	27 min
Apr 17, 10:36 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ARX	Chickasaw	69 min
Apr 17, 10:47 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ARX	Floyd	73 min
Apr 17, 10:49 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ARX	Mitchell	56 min
Apr 17, 10:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Allamakee	23 min
Apr 17, 11:01 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DMX	Worth	29 min
Apr 17, 11:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Howard	96 min
Apr 17, 11:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	MPX	Steele	48 min
Apr 17, 11:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Winneshiek	83 min
Apr 17, 11:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ARX	Dodge	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 133 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: 2026 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 65 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 91 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 489 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

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SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 17, 9:31 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allamakee, Cerro Gordo, Chickasaw, Emmet, Fayette, Floyd and 8 more	119 min
Apr 17, 10:05 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Allamakee, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Butler, Cerro Gordo and 19 more	5 hr
Apr 17, 11:10 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Dickinson, Lyon, O'Brien and 3 more	95 min
Apr 17, 11:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Clay, Dickinson, Lyon, O'Brien, Osceola, Sioux	5 hr
Apr 17, 11:50 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Cerro Gordo, Emmet, Hancock, Howard, Humboldt, Kossuth and 5 more	85 min
Apr 18, 4:15 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Buena Vista, Calhoun, Cerro Gordo, Cherokee, Clay, Dickinson and 20 more	60 min
Apr 18, 4:40 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Audubon, Buena Vista, Calhoun, Carroll, Cass, Cherokee and 29 more	5 hr
Apr 18, 12:30 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Anoka, Carver, Chisago, Dakota, Goodhue, Hennepin and 11 more	5 hr
Apr 18, 2:37 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Aitkin, Anoka, Benton, Big Stone, Brown, Carlton and 40 more	53 min
Apr 18, 4:43 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Aitkin, Benton, Carlton, Cass, Chisago, Crow Wing and 15 more	32 min
Apr 18, 8:04 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Aitkin, Benton, Carlton, Cass, Crow Wing, Douglas and 6 more	86 min
Apr 18, 12:39 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Aitkin, Anoka, Benton, Big Stone, Carlton, Carver and 32 more	2 hr
Apr 18, 1:40 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Aitkin, Anoka, Benton, Carlton, Carver, Chippewa and 32 more	6 hr
Apr 18, 2:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Lincoln, Lyon, Pipestone, Rock	6 hr
Apr 18, 3:33 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Aitkin, Anoka, Benton, Carlton, Chisago, Crow Wing and 12 more	117 min
Apr 18, 5:23 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Lincoln, Lyon, Pipestone, Rock	2 hr
Apr 18, 6:35 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Brown, Carver, Dakota, Goodhue, Hennepin, Le Sueur and 7 more	5 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Iowa, 2004 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Minnesota, 2004 Every severe thunderstorm watch in 2004

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.