Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1986
Tornado Warning 10, NWS Wichita, KS
NWS Wichita, KS issued this tornado warning at May 5, 1986, 7:33 PM CDT for Butler County, Cowley County, Kansas. It was in force for 22 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, 7:33 PM CDT (00:33 UTC)
- Expired
- May 5, 1986, 7:55 PM CDT
- In force
- 22 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, 0.6 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 060036 RRA TORICT KSC015-035-060055- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING...CORRECTION TO EXPIRATION TIME... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS 733 PM CDT MON MAY 5 1986 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 755 AM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES OF SOUTHEAST KANSAS...SOUTHERN BUTLER AND EXTREME NORTHERN COWLEY AT 725 PM A TORNADO WAS INDICATE BY RADAR IN SOUTHEAST BUTLER COUNTY ALONG THE BUTLER/COWLEY COUNTY LINE NEAR DOUGLAS MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST 20 MILES AN HOUR...ADDITIONALLY A FUNNEL CLOUD AND WALL CLOUD WERE OBSEVERED IN THE SAME AREA. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY. DON/T HESITATE. A FEW SECONDS MIGHT SAVE YOUR LIFE. SWAIN
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this tornado 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, 25 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, 7:21 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Butler, Cowley | 59 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
Tornado Warnings in Kansas, 1986Every tornado warning in 1986Tornadoes 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.