Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1987

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Kansas City, MO

May 18, 1987Wyandotte County, Kansas

NWS Kansas City, MO issued this tornado warning at May 18, 1987, 7:00 PM CDT for Wyandotte County, Kansas. It was in force for 20 min. 2 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 18, 1987, 7:00 PM CDT (00:00 UTC)
Expired: May 18, 1987, 7:20 PM CDT
In force: 20 min
Issued by: NWS Kansas City, MO
Area: Whole counties

County Wyandotte 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 18, 7:00 PM CDT	Hail 1	Wyandotte, KS
May 18, 7:30 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Wyandotte, 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, 0.0 hours before the alert went out and 77 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 4455 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1095 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 16 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 64 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.8
Supercell composite: 4.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMCI 190000
TORMCI
KSC209-190030-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY INTL AIRPORT
700 PM CDT MON MAY 18 1987
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL  730 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY...
 
IN EAST KANSAS
          ...NORTHERN WYANDOTTE
 
REPORT OF A FUNNEL CLOUD NEAR PIPER KANSAS...IN NORTHWEST WYANDOTTE
COUNTY KANSAS...OR 10 MILES SOUTHWEST OF KANSAS CITY INTERNATIONAL
AIRPORT.  THE STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 15 MILES AN HOUR.
 
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.
 
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY REINFORCED
BUILDING.  AS A LAST RESORT...SEEK SHELTER IN A CULVERT...DITCH
OR LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.
 
 
BB/CS

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 18, 6:46 PM CDT, 14 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND RADAR SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT MO
630 PM CDT MON MAY 18 1987

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR A LARGE PART OF
EAST AND NORTHEAST KANSAS AND WEST CENTRAL AND NORTH MISSOURI UNTIL
MIDNIGHT THIS MONDAY EVENING...

AT 530 PM...AN INTENSE THUNDERSTORM WAS OCCURRING IN CENTRAL
LEAVENWORTH COUNTY KANSAS. THE LEAVENWORTH COUNTY SHERIFF REPORTED
HAIL BETWEEN 1/4 AND 1/2 INCH SIZE HAIL...HEAVY RAIN AND GUSTY WINDS
JUST TO THE WEST OF THE CITY OF LEAVENWORTH.

OTHER VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS...WITH POSSIBLE HAIL...STRONG GUSTY
SURFACE WINDS AND HEAVY RAIN...WERE IN LYON COUNTY IN KANSAS AND ALONG
THE IOWA, MISSOURI STATELINE NEAR HARRISON COUNT MISSOURI.

MOVEMENT WAS TOWARD THE EAST AT 20 MPH.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Kansas City, MO issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 18, 7:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Johnson, Wyandotte	46 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Kansas, 1987 Every tornado warning in 1987 Tornadoes 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.