Campus Alert Archive
Iowa

Second Hawk Alert in 70 Days: A 7:12 PM Storm Near West Branch Pushed Iowa Into Another Tornado-Warning Shelter Order

IAtornadoemergency notificationhigh confidence

On the evening of Tuesday, June 25, 2024, the National Weather Service in Davenport issued a Tornado Warning for Johnson County, Iowa valid until 8:15 PM CDT after a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was located near West Branch, moving east at 25 mph. The University of Iowa pushed a Hawk Alert directing the campus community to seek immediate shelter — the same template alert system the university had used just 70 days earlier on April 16, 2024. The warning expired at 8:15 PM CDT with no confirmed tornado touchdown in Iowa City or on the University of Iowa campus.

Alerts
1
Response
0 min
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
University of Iowa
Public R1 · IA
~31,000 studentsHawk Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

1 message in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Verified verbatimUniversity of Iowa Emergency Updates archive — Hawk Alert page152 chars
HAWK ALERT: NWS has issued a tornado warning for Johnson County until 8:15 p.m. Seek immediate shelter. See emergency.uiowa.edu for further information.
Pushed shortly after 7:12 PM CDT on June 25, 2024, the moment the NWS Davenport tornado warning was issued for east-central Johnson County.
The 'NWS has issued a tornado warning for Johnson County until [time]. Seek immediate shelter' template is Hawk Alert's standard shell for NWS-issued tornado warnings — the only variable is the expiration time, which is set per-warning.
Sent within the 160-character SMS hard cap; the dual 'See emergency.uiowa.edu for further information' link conserves characters by avoiding the longer 'visit' or 'go to' phrasing.
Context

Background

On Tuesday, June 25, 2024, the National Weather Service in Davenport issued a Tornado Warning for east-central Johnson County, Iowa, after a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was spotted near West Branch around 7:12 PM CDT moving east at 25 mph. The University of Iowa pushed a Hawk Alert using the system's standard NWS tornado-warning template, directing the campus community to seek immediate shelter and pointing recipients to the emergency.uiowa.edu hub for ongoing updates. CAMBUS suspended bus service for the duration of the warning per the university severe-weather policy. The warning expired at 8:15 PM CDT with no confirmed tornado touchdown on the campus or in Iowa City; the storm tracked east through Cedar and Muscatine counties. The case is one of multiple 2024 Hawk Alert tornado-warning pushes (the prior one, on April 16, 2024, occurred 70 days earlier) and illustrates how Iowa City — sitting in the heart of Tornado Alley's eastern extension — sees the Hawk Alert system used repeatedly across a single severe-weather season.
Analysis

Key Findings

Hawk Alert reused its standard NWS tornado-warning template — substituting only the expiration time — for the second tornado warning of the 2024 season (after the April 16 warning).
The 152-character SMS fit comfortably under the standard 160-character SMS cap, leaving room for the variable expiration time and the abbreviated 'emergency.uiowa.edu' link.
The warning resolved with no confirmed touchdown on or near campus — but the standardized template means that whether the storm was a near-miss or a direct hit, the alert wording was identical.
Outcome
Tornado Warning expired at 8:15 PM CDT with no confirmed tornado touchdown on or near the University of Iowa campus. The storm tracked east through Cedar and Muscatine counties. CAMBUS suspended service for the duration of the warning per university severe-weather policy. No campus injuries or structural damage were reported.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Official
    HAWK ALERT: NWS has issued a tornado warning for Johnson County until 8:15 p.m. Seek immediate shelter. (University of Iowa Emergency Updates archive)
    emergency.uiowa.edu
  2. Official
    Hawk Alert (University of Iowa Department of Public Safety)
    police.uiowa.edu
  3. Official
    Emergency Updates (University of Iowa)
    emergency.uiowa.edu
  4. Official
    CAMBUS Severe Weather Policy (University of Iowa Parking and Transportation)
    transportation.uiowa.edu
Tags
IowaUniversity of IowaHawk Alerttornadotornado-warningsevere-weatherJohnson CountyBig-TenIowa City
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion