Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1986
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 28, NWS Wichita, KS
NWS Wichita, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 5, 1986, 7:21 PM CDT for Butler County, Cowley County, Kansas. It was in force for 59 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.
The facts
- Issued
- May 5, 1986, 7:21 PM CDT (00:21 UTC)
- Expired
- May 5, 1986, 8:20 PM CDT
- In force
- 59 min
- Issued by
- NWS Wichita, KS
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Butler County, KS, Cowley County, KS
The radar
The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 5, 7:45 PM CDT | Hail 1.75 | Butler, KS |
NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in. Storm Data before 1996 records only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail.
The nearest sounding before it
Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 00:00Z, 0.4 hours before the alert went out and 196 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
- 2272 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -6 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1074 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 44 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 24 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 110 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.9
- Supercell composite
- 4.4
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KICT 060021 SVRICT KSC015-035-060120- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS 721 PM CDT MON MAY 5 1986 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 820 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES OF SOUTHEAST KANSAS...SOUTHERN BUTLER AND NORTHERN COWLEY AT 718 PM A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS EAST OF DOUGLAS IN SOUTH BUTLER COUNTY MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MILES AN HOUR. LINE IS DRIFTING EAST. THIS STORM MAY PRODUCE DOWNBURST WINDS THAT CAN CAUSE DAMAGE NEARLY AS SEVERE AS THAT CAUSED BY TORNADOES. ADDITIONALLY... FREQUENT..DANGEROUS LIGHTNING..LARGE HAIL AND HEAVY RAINS THAT CAN QUICKLY FLOOD LOW-LYING AREAS ARE LIKELY. REMEMBER..SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING...SO BE ON THE LOOKOUT ..AND BE PREPARED TO MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY IF ONE IS SPOTTED. OPTIONAL FREE FuORM MESSAGE... STORMS NEAR DOUGLAS MOVING NORTHEAST BUT ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT WAS TO THE SOUTHWEST. THE LINE WAS DRIFTING EAST. LR
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, May 5, 7:08 PM CDT, 13 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS 705 PM CDT MON MAY 5 1986 ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT FOR A LARGE PORTION OF SOUTH CENTRAL AND EASTEN KANSAS... ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING UNTIL 715 PM CDT FOR NORTHERN GREENWOOD AND SOUTHEAST CHASE COUNTIES... SHORTLY BEFORE 7 PM CDT A LINE OF INTENSE THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDED FROM JUST SOUTH OF TOPEKA SOUTHWEST TO ABOUT 35 MILES SOUTHWEST OF WICHITA...JUST EAST OF ANTHONY. PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS STORMS WERE LOCATED IN SOUTHEAST BUTLER COUNTY NEAR DOUGLAS...JUST EAST OF AUGUSTA...AND 55 MILES NORTHEAST OF WICHITA...NEAR TETERVILLE IN NORTHWEST GREENWOOD COUNTY. MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST AT 3k0 MILES AN HOUR...WHILE THE LINE AS A WHOLE WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 15 MILES AN HOUR. SWAIN
The office that day
Everything else NWS Wichita, KS issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 5, 7:33 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ICT | Butler, Cowley | 22 min |
| May 5, 7:59 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ICT | Butler | 31 min |
| May 5, 8:36 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Butler, Cowley, Sedgwick, Sumner | 54 min |
| May 5, 9:28 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ICT | Sumner | 32 min |
| May 5, 9:52 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Cowley | 58 min |
| May 5, 10:27 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Sumner | 58 min |
| May 5, 10:54 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Cowley | 31 min |
| May 5, 11:39 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Cowley | 61 min |
| May 6, 12:17 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Chautauqua, Elk | 58 min |
| May 6, 1:19 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Chautauqua, Elk, Montgomery | 56 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kansas, 1986Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1986
Sources
The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.