Alert archive / Iowa / Blizzard Watches in 2014

Blizzard Watch 1, NWS Des Moines, IA

January 24, 201428 counties in Iowa

NWS Des Moines, IA issued this blizzard watch at Jan 24, 2014, 3:30 PM CST for 28 counties in Iowa. It took effect at Jan 26, 2014, 9:00 AM CST. It was in force for .

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jan 24, 2014, 3:30 PM CST (21:30 UTC)
In effect from: Jan 26, 2014, 9:00 AM CST
Expired: Jan 25, 2014, 3:55 PM CST
In force
Issued by: NWS Des Moines, IA

All 28 counties

Black Hawk County, IA, Boone County, IA, Bremer County, IA, Butler County, IA, Cerro Gordo County, IA, Emmet County, IA, Franklin County, IA, Grundy County, IA, Hamilton County, IA, Hancock County, IA, Hardin County, IA, Humboldt County, IA, Jasper County, IA, Kossuth County, IA, Mahaska County, IA, Marion County, IA, Marshall County, IA, Palo Alto County, IA, Pocahontas County, IA, Polk County, IA, Poweshiek County, IA, Story County, IA, Tama County, IA, Wapello County, IA, Webster County, IA, Winnebago County, IA, Worth County, IA, Wright County, IA

The radar

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 82 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:35 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

Minneapolis, MN (KMPX), launched 12:00Z, 9.5 hours before the alert went out and 269 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: 880 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 56 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 427 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 596 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this blizzard watch went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Des Moines, IA wrote its last area forecast discussion before this blizzard watch went out at Jan 24, 3:28 PM CST, 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 24, 3:28 PM CST, 2 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 24, 5:24 AM CST, 10 hours 6 minutes before

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Nearby

Blizzard Watches in Iowa, 2014 Every blizzard watch in 2014

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.