Extreme meteorologist Dr. Reed Timmer reported from Des Moines, Iowa, where a tornado watch was issued in the midst of severe weather brewing in the area on April 16.
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00:00The low-level jet is absolutely ripping about a kilometer above the ground.
00:04Extreme low-level wind shear is in place and a tornado watch has just been issued through 6 p.m.
00:09including southern Iowa just to the south of the Des Moines area down into northern Missouri just
00:14to the east of Kansas City and it is expected to destabilize behind this morning round of storms
00:20gradually on the southern periphery of it as a warm front is lifting into southern Iowa
00:24eventually lifting all the way up to the I-80 corridor including the Des Moines area.
00:28There's a couple storms that are intensifying to the east of Kansas City that have prompted some
00:32severe weather warnings as well but it looks like the greatest threat for an intense tornado or two
00:37is going to be along the warm front as it pushes into southern eventually central Iowa this
00:41afternoon and it also depends on how rapidly the air mass destabilizes on the southern end of this
00:47morning complex of storms. It looks like some clearing is starting to work its way into northern
00:52Missouri and into southwestern Iowa and as that happens there's going to be new supercell storms
00:57that are going to develop through the early afternoon and those are going to pose a risk for
01:00an intense tornado or two as they move northward and interact with that warm frontal zone and all
01:05the tornado potential is fueled by the low-level jet and you can see that these low-level clouds
01:10are moving rapidly from south to north and it's that low-level wind shear from the surface to
01:15about a kilometer above the ground that really causes these supercell storms to tighten up
01:20into tornadoes at the low levels and there could even be an intense tornado or two later on today
01:25given the magnitude of that low-level wind shear especially if the air mass can destabilize a
01:31little bit with a dry slot in the atmosphere helping to erode.