Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1987

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 71, NWS Kansas City, MO

August 18, 1987Johnson County, Kansas

NWS Kansas City, MO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 18, 1987, 3:30 AM CDT for Johnson County, Kansas. It was in force for 60 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
Aug 18, 1987, 3:30 AM CDT (08:30 UTC)
Expired
Aug 18, 1987, 4:30 AM CDT
In force
60 min
Issued by
NWS Kansas City, MO
Area
Whole counties

County Johnson 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
Aug 18, 3:35 AM CDTThunderstorm Wind 52Johnson, 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, 8.5 hours before the alert went out and 72 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 1987-08-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2117 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 1987-08-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 12 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
2117 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-7 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1440 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
12 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
98 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.5
Supercell composite
3.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KMCI 180830
SVRMCI
KSC091-MOC047-095-180930-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY INTL AIRPORT
330 AM CDT TUE AUG 18 1987
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL  430 AM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...
 
IN EAST CENTRAL KANSAS
          ...JOHNSON
IN WEST CENTRAL MISSOURI
          ...SOUTHERN CLAY...JACKSON
 
THUNDERSTORMS WITH WINDS UP TO 60 MPH WERE IN CLAY AND JACKSON
COUNTIES IN MISSOURI. THE STORMS WERE MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH.
 
 
REMEBER SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE
TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING. REMAIN CALM BUT
BE ALERT TO RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS. HEAVY RAINS
CAN COVER ROADS QUICKLY SO DO NOT DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER
COVERS THE ROADS.

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, Aug 18, 2:40 AM CDT, 50 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY MO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
230 AM CDT TUE AUG 18 1987

AT 230 AM...A BAND OF NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS...SOME CONTAINING VERY
HEAVY RAIN...EXTENDED FROM EASTCENTRAL KANSAS ACROSS NORTHWEST
MISSOURI INTO SOUTHCENTRAL IOWA.

THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN WERE IN A NARROW BAND FROM TOPEKA
KANSAS TO JUST NORTH OF ST JOSEPH TO 30 MILES NORTHEAST OF ST JOSEPH.

THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MILES AN HOUR.

AT 230 AM THE THUNDERSTORMS HAD REACHED THE NORTHWEST SECTIONS OF THE
KANSAS CITY AREA AND WILL SPREAD ACROSS THE REST OF THE METROPOLITAN
AREA BY 430 AM THIS MORNING.   SOME HEAVY DOWNPOURS AND GUSTY WINDS
WILL ACCOMPLY SOME OF THE THUNDERSTORMS.

THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL END IN THE ST JOSEPH AREA BETWEEN 5 AMD 6AM
THIS MORNING.

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kansas, 1987Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1987

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.