Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Watches in 2004
Tornado Watch 78
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 17, 2004, 10:05 PM CDT for 25 counties in Iowa; 13 counties in Minnesota; 12 counties in Wisconsin. It was in force for 5 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Apr 17, 2004, 10:05 PM CDT (03:05 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 18, 2004, 3:00 AM CDT
- In force
- 5 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
All 50 counties
Allamakee County, IA, Black Hawk County, IA, Bremer County, IA, Buchanan County, IA, Butler County, IA, Cerro Gordo County, IA, Chickasaw County, IA, Clayton County, IA, Delaware County, IA, Dubuque County, IA, Emmet County, IA, Fayette County, IA, Floyd County, IA, Franklin County, IA, Hancock County, IA, Howard County, IA, Humboldt County, IA, Kossuth County, IA, Mitchell County, IA, Palo Alto County, IA, Pocahontas County, IA, Winnebago County, IA, Winneshiek County, IA, Worth County, IA, Wright 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, Adams County, WI, Crawford County, WI, Grant County, WI, Green County, WI, Iowa County, WI, Juneau County, WI, La Crosse County, WI, Lafayette County, WI, Monroe County, WI, Richland County, WI, Sauk County, WI, Vernon County, WI
The radar
The La Crosse radar (KARX), 127 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:05 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
18 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 17, 10:08 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ARX | Monroe | 52 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, 10:21 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ARX | Crawford, Vernon | 84 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, 10:44 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ARX | Juneau | 76 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, 11:18 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ARX | Richland | 87 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, 3.1 hours before the alert went out and 165 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.
- 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
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
WWUS20 KWNS 180304
SEL8
SPC WW 180305
IAZ000-MNZ000-WIZ000-180800-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 78
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1005 PM CDT SAT APR 17 2004
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
NORTHERN IOWA
SOUTHEAST MINNESOTA
SOUTHWEST WISCONSIN
EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING FROM 1005 PM
UNTIL 300 AM CDT.
TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2.5 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND
GUSTS TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
AREAS.
THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 60 STATUTE MILES EITHER SIDE
OF A LINE FROM 30 MILES SOUTHWEST OF FAIRMONT MINNESOTA TO 35
MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF LONEROCK WISCONSIN.
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 SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 77. WATCH NUMBER 77 WILL NOT BE IN
EFFECT AFTER 1005 PM CDT.
DISCUSSION...SUPERCELLS HAVE DEVELOPED ACROSS WRN PORTION OF WATCH
AND WITH LOW LEVEL JET INCREASING AND WARM UNSTABLE AIRMASS MOVING
NWD...POTENTIAL FOR ISOLATED TORNADOES EXISTS WITH THE SUPERCELLS...
COUPLED WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. STORMS WILL CONTINUE
DEVELOPING EWD INTO SWRN WI
AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2.5 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
550. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 26035.
...HALES
441,0945 441,0893 423,0893 422,0945SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 17, 7:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Allamakee, Cerro Gordo, Chickasaw, Emmet, Floyd, Hancock and 7 more | 5 hr |
| Apr 17, 9:31 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Allamakee, Cerro Gordo, Chickasaw, Emmet, Fayette, Floyd and 8 more | 119 min |
| 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 |
| Apr 18, 1:49 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Calumet, Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Fond du Lac, Green and 11 more | 56 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Iowa, 2004Tornado Watches in Minnesota, 2004Tornado Watches in Wisconsin, 2004Every tornado 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.