Alert archive / Iowa / Tornado Watches in 2026
Tornado Watch 216
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 17, 2026, 6:12 PM CDT for 19 counties in Iowa; 13 counties in Minnesota. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 17, 2026, 6:12 PM CDT (23:12 UTC)
- Expired
- May 18, 2026, 12:35 AM CDT
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 2 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 65 kt
All 32 counties
Bremer County, IA, Butler County, IA, Cerro Gordo County, IA, Chickasaw 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, Brown County, MN, Dodge County, MN, Faribault County, MN, Fillmore County, MN, Freeborn County, MN, Martin County, MN, Mower County, MN, Nicollet County, MN, Olmsted County, MN, Steele County, MN, Waseca County, MN, Watonwan County, MN
The radar
The Minneapolis radar (KMPX), 137 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:11 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
- 50%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 30%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 80%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 70%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 40%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 30%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 95%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 17, 7:11 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Brown, Watonwan | 49 min |
| May 17, 7:12 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Blue Earth, Martin, Watonwan | 33 min |
| May 17, 7:32 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Martin, Watonwan | 58 min |
| May 17, 7:40 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Faribault, Martin | 35 min |
| May 17, 7:40 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Martin, Watonwan | 24 min |
| May 17, 7:48 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Blue Earth, Martin, Watonwan | 42 min |
| May 17, 8:10 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Blue Earth, Faribault, Martin | 50 min |
| May 17, 8:19 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Calhoun, Palo Alto, Pocahontas, Sac | 56 min |
| May 17, 8:35 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | DMX | Calhoun, Pocahontas, Sac | 40 min |
| May 17, 8:49 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Blue Earth, Faribault, Freeborn, Waseca | 43 min |
| May 17, 8:59 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | DMX | Emmet, Palo Alto | 46 min |
| May 17, 9:02 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Calhoun, Hamilton, Humboldt, Kossuth, Palo Alto, Pocahontas and 2 more | 43 min |
| May 17, 9:05 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | DMX | Calhoun, Hamilton, Humboldt, Pocahontas, Webster, Wright | 40 min |
| May 17, 9:08 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | DMX | Humboldt, Kossuth, Palo Alto, Pocahontas | 52 min |
| May 17, 9:15 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | DMX | Emmet | 30 min |
| May 17, 9:19 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Blue Earth, Faribault, Martin, Watonwan | 56 min |
| May 17, 9:28 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Cerro Gordo, Emmet, Franklin, Hancock, Humboldt, Kossuth and 4 more | 62 min |
| May 17, 9:30 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | DMX | Emmet, Kossuth, Palo Alto, Winnebago | 45 min |
| May 17, 9:35 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | DMX | Cerro Gordo, Hancock, Kossuth, Winnebago, Worth | 40 min |
| May 17, 9:36 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Faribault, Martin | 39 min |
| May 17, 9:42 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Calhoun, Franklin, Hamilton, Hardin, Humboldt, Webster and 1 more | 63 min |
| May 17, 9:45 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | DMX | Franklin, Hamilton, Hardin, Humboldt, Webster, Wright | 45 min |
| May 17, 9:52 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | MPX | Faribault, Freeborn | 53 min |
| May 17, 10:07 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | DMX | Cerro Gordo, Hancock, Winnebago, Worth | 38 min |
| May 17, 10:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ARX | Floyd, Mitchell | 66 min |
| May 17, 10:11 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | DMX | Butler, Cerro Gordo, Franklin, Hancock, Wright | 37 min |
| May 17, 10:13 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ARX | Mitchell | 62 min |
| May 17, 10:19 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | DMX | Cerro Gordo | 26 min |
| May 17, 10:24 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ARX | Floyd, Mitchell | 51 min |
| May 17, 10:33 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MPX | Freeborn | 27 min |
| May 17, 10:35 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ARX | Mower | 40 min |
| May 17, 10:47 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ARX | Dodge, Fillmore, Olmsted | 58 min |
| May 17, 10:49 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ARX | Chickasaw, Howard | 56 min |
| May 17, 10:54 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ARX | Chickasaw, Howard | 51 min |
| May 17, 11:17 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ARX | Fillmore, Wabasha, Winona | 58 min |
| May 17, 11:40 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ARX | Winneshiek | 28 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 12:00Z, 11.2 hours before the alert went out and 137 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
- 1780 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 23 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 238 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 284 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 17, 1:11 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cherokee, Harrison, Ida, Lyon, Monona, O'Brien and 4 more | 2 hr |
| May 17, 1:42 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Buena Vista, Cherokee, Clay, Dickinson, Ida, Lyon and 6 more | 8 hr |
| May 17, 3:16 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Pottawattamie and 1 more | 8 hr |
| May 17, 3:31 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Lyon, O'Brien, Osceola, Sioux | 89 min |
| May 17, 5:45 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Buena Vista, Cerro Gordo, Clay, Emmet, Floyd, Franklin and 10 more | 60 min |
| May 17, 6:53 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cherokee, Crawford, Fremont, Harrison, Ida, Mills and 6 more | 67 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Iowa, 2026Tornado Watches in Minnesota, 2026Every tornado watch in 2026
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.