Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1986

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 29, NWS Wichita, KS

May 5, 19864 counties in Kansas

NWS Wichita, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 5, 1986, 8:36 PM CDT for 4 counties in Kansas. It was in force for 54 min. 4 reports 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, 8:36 PM CDT (01:36 UTC)
Expired
May 5, 1986, 9:30 PM CDT
In force
54 min
Issued by
NWS Wichita, KS
Area
Whole counties

Counties Butler County, KS, Cowley County, KS, Sedgwick County, KS, Sumner 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 5, 8:36 PM CDTHail 1Cowley, KS
May 5, 9:06 PM CDTHail 1Sumner, KS
May 5, 9:06 PM CDTHail 1Sedgwick, KS
May 5, 9:14 PM CDTThunderstorm Wind 52Cowley, 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, 1.6 hours before the alert went out and 214 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, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 1986-05-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2272 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, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 1986-05-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 24 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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, 1 hour 28 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.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 5, 7:21 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTButler, Cowley59 min
May 5, 7:33 PM CDTTornado WarningICTButler, Cowley22 min
May 5, 7:59 PM CDTTornado WarningICTButler31 min
May 5, 9:28 PM CDTTornado WarningICTSumner32 min
May 5, 9:52 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTCowley58 min
May 5, 10:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTSumner58 min
May 5, 10:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTCowley31 min
May 5, 11:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTCowley61 min
May 6, 12:17 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTChautauqua, Elk58 min
May 6, 1:19 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTChautauqua, Elk, Montgomery56 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.