Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Watches in 2018

Tornado Watch 195

June 20, 201836 counties in Iowa

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jun 20, 2018, 3:04 PM CDT for 36 counties in Iowa. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jun 20, 2018, 3:04 PM CDT (20:04 UTC)
Expired
Jun 20, 2018, 7:00 PM CDT
In force
4 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
1.5 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 36 counties

Benton County, IA, Black Hawk County, IA, Boone County, IA, Bremer County, IA, Buchanan County, IA, Butler County, IA, Cedar County, IA, Dallas County, IA, Delaware County, IA, Des Moines County, IA, Franklin County, IA, Greene County, IA, Grundy County, IA, Hamilton County, IA, Hardin County, IA, Henry County, IA, Humboldt County, IA, Iowa County, IA, Jasper County, IA, Jefferson County, IA, Johnson County, IA, Jones County, IA, Keokuk County, IA, Linn County, IA, Louisa County, IA, Mahaska County, IA, Marshall County, IA, Muscatine County, IA, Polk County, IA, Poweshiek County, IA, Story County, IA, Tama County, IA, Wapello County, IA, Washington County, IA, Webster County, IA, Wright County, IA

The radar

The Des Moines radar (KDMX), 64 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:04 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.

What SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes
40%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
20%
Ten or more severe wind reports
30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
20%
Ten or more severe hail reports
30%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
20%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
60%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 20, 3:10 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDVNIowa, Johnson, Keokuk, Louisa, Washington65 min
Jun 20, 3:16 PM CDTTornado Warning Tornado observedDMXHardin29 min
Jun 20, 3:18 PM CDTTornado Warning Tornado observedDMXGrundy, Hardin57 min
Jun 20, 3:21 PM CDTTornado WarningDMXHumboldt, Kossuth39 min
Jun 20, 3:24 PM CDTTornado WarningDMXWebster37 min
Jun 20, 3:57 PM CDTTornado WarningDMXGrundy, Hardin33 min
Jun 20, 4:06 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXHancock, Humboldt, Kossuth, Wright39 min
Jun 20, 4:13 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningDMXHumboldt, Kossuth, Palo Alto, Pocahontas6 hr
Jun 20, 4:25 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningDMXHumboldt, Kossuth6 hr
Jun 20, 4:33 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDVNDelaware, Dubuque, Jones, Linn42 min
Jun 20, 5:34 PM CDTTornado Warning Tornado observedDMXMahaska, Monroe, Wapello41 min
Jun 20, 6:05 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXDavis, Wapello41 min
Jun 20, 6:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDMXStory30 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

Davenport, (KDVN), launched 12:00Z, 8.1 hours before the alert went out and 229 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 2018-06-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 235 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 2018-06-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 80 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
235 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-52 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
502 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
80 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
80 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 20, 5:13 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCMercer, Rock Island2 hr
Jun 20, 1:01 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBenton, Boone, Dallas, Grundy, Hardin, Iowa and 16 more2 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Iowa, 2018Every tornado watch in 2018

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.