Alert archive / Iowa / Mesoscale Discussions in 2012

Mesoscale Discussion 817

May 15, 201213 counties in Illinois; 18 counties in Iowa; 6 counties in Wisconsin

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at May 15, 2012, 2:51 PM CDT for 13 counties in Illinois; 18 counties in Iowa; 6 counties in Wisconsin. It was in force for 54 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 15, 2012, 2:51 PM CDT (19:51 UTC)
Expired
May 15, 2012, 3:45 PM CDT
In force
54 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Chance of a watch
20%
All 37 counties

Benton County, IA, Cedar County, IA, Clinton County, IA, Delaware County, IA, Dubuque County, IA, Iowa County, IA, Jackson County, IA, Jefferson County, IA, Johnson County, IA, Jones County, IA, Keokuk County, IA, Linn County, IA, Louisa County, IA, Mahaska County, IA, Muscatine County, IA, Poweshiek County, IA, Scott County, IA, Washington County, IA, Boone County, IL, Carroll County, IL, DeKalb County, IL, DuPage County, IL, Jo Daviess County, IL, Kane County, IL, Lee County, IL, McHenry County, IL, Ogle County, IL, Rock Island County, IL, Stephenson County, IL, Whiteside County, IL, Winnebago County, IL, Dane County, WI, Green County, WI, Jefferson County, WI, Lafayette County, WI, Rock County, WI, Walworth County, WI

The radar

The Quad Cities radar (KDVN), 52 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:49 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Davenport, (KDVN), launched 12:00Z, 7.9 hours before the alert went out and 52 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, Davenport, at 12:00Z on 2012-05-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Davenport, at 12:00Z on 2012-05-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -8 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
2205 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-8 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
25 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.

400 
ACUS11 KWNS 151951
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 151951 
ILZ000-WIZ000-IAZ000-152045-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0817
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0251 PM CDT TUE MAY 15 2012

AREAS AFFECTED...ERN IA / NRN IL / SRN WI

CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...WATCH UNLIKELY 

VALID 151951Z - 152045Z

PROBABILITY OF WATCH ISSUANCE...20 PERCENT

SUMMARY...ISOLD-WIDELY SCTD STORMS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP 21-00Z.  SOME
RISK FOR GUSTY WINDS MAY DEVELOP WITH THE STRONGER STORMS.  OVERALL
SEVERE THREAT WILL SEEMINGLY BE LIMITED BY QUALITY OF MOISTURE /LACK
THEREOF/...RENDERING THE PROBABILITY OF WATCH ISSUANCE LOWER THAN
PERCEIVED EARLIER.  THE SLIGHT RISK WILL BE DOWNGRADED TO A SEE TEXT
HIGHLIGHT FOR THE UPCOMING 20Z CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK ISSUANCE.

DISCUSSION...VISIBLE SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS A CLUMPING CU FIELD
ALONG THE FRONT EXTENDING FROM 30 MI N DSM INTO NERN IA.  STRONG
SURFACE HEATING AHEAD OF THE FRONT HAS YIELDED TEMPS IN THE
MID-UPPER 80S AND 40-50 DEG TEMP/DEWPOINT SPREADS.  OF
NOTE...VARIOUS MORNING MODEL SOLUTIONS HAVE BEEN OVERLY AGGRESSIVE
REGARDING THE QUALITY OF BOUNDARY LAYER MOISTURE ACROSS THE AREA. 
OBSERVED GPS PW/S IN FAR ERN IA NEAR THE IL BORDER AND OVER NERN IA
/0.4 TO 0.5 INCH --RESPECTIVELY/...ARE 0.25-0.5 INCH LOWER THAN
VARIOUS OPERATIONAL MODELS.  AS SUCH...UPDRAFTS WILL SEEMINGLY BE
INHIBITED TO A DEGREE BY DRY AIR ENTRAINMENT...DESPITE FRONTAL
FORCING AIDING IN CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT.  WITH ONLY WEAK
INSTABILITY /A FEW HUNDRED J/KG SBCAPE/...STORM COVERAGE WILL LIKELY
REMAIN ISOLD TO WIDELY SCTD...YIELDING PERHAPS A FEW STRONG WIND
GUSTS.

..SMITH/HART.. 05/15/2012

...PLEASE SEE WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV FOR GRAPHIC PRODUCT...

ATTN...WFO...LOT...MKX...DVN...ARX...DMX...

LAT...LON   42109250 43398888 42788802 41838802 40979204 41349268
            42109250

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 15, 4:58 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBoone, Carroll, Jo Daviess, McHenry, Ogle, Stephenson and 1 more62 min

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Iowa, 2012Mesoscale Discussions in Illinois, 2012Mesoscale Discussions in Wisconsin, 2012Every mesoscale discussion in 2012

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.