Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1988

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 79, NWS Kansas City, MO

November 15, 1988Jackson County, Missouri; Johnson County, Wyandotte County, Kansas

NWS Kansas City, MO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Nov 15, 1988, 3:16 PM CST for Jackson County, Missouri; Johnson County, Wyandotte County, Kansas. It was in force for 29 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Nov 15, 1988, 3:16 PM CST (21:16 UTC)
Expired: Nov 15, 1988, 3:45 PM CST
In force: 29 min
Issued by: NWS Kansas City, MO
Area: Whole counties

Counties Johnson County, KS, Wyandotte County, KS, Jackson County, MO

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

The nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 12:00Z, 9.3 hours before the alert went out and 86 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: 1080 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -191 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 785 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 228 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 227 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.4

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, Nov 15, 11:27 AM CST, 3 hours 49 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT MO
1130 PM CST THU NOV 15 1988

       ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PROJECTED FOR THE KANSAS CITY
                    METRO AREA THIS AFTERNOON...

AN OUTBREAK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IS FORECAST FOR NORTHWEST AND WEST
CENTRAL MISSOURI THIS AFTERNOON...INCLUDING THE KANSAS CITY METRO AREA.

A MAJOR STORM SYSTEM CENTERED OVER SOUTHWEST KANSAS LATE THIS MORNING
WILL MOVE RAPIDLY NORTHEAST THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT AND INTO THE
WESTERN GREAT LAKES REGION BY EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING.  STRONG SOUTHERLY
WINDS OUT AHEAD OT THIS SYSTEM WILL BRING MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR
NORTHWARD INTO THE CENTRAL PLAINS THIS AFTERNOON.  NORTHERLY WINDS
WRAPPING AROUND THE BACK SIDE OF THE LOW BRING A SURGE OF COLD POLAR
AIR SOUTHWARD.

A COLD FRONT ASSOCIATED WITH THIS SYSTEM WILL PUSH RAPIDLY EAST ACROSS
THE KANSAS CITY METRO AREA THIS EVENING...SETTING THE STAGE FOR
EXPLOSIVE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT.  SOME OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL
LIKELY BECOME SEVERE DURING THE MID TO LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS
ACROSS THE METRO AREA...PRODUCING DESTRUCTIVE WINDS...LARGE HAIL AND
POSSIBILY TORNADOES.

YOU ARE ADVISED TO MONITOR RADIO...TV...OR NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR THE
LATEST INFORMATION ON THIS POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS WEATHER SITUATION.

EDF

Special weather statement, Nov 15, 1:21 PM CST, 1 hour 55 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT MO
120 PM CST THU NOV 15 1988

    ...TORNADO WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM CST THIS EVENING
               FOR THE KANSAS CITY METRO AREA...

A TORNDO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL MISSOURI
...INCLUDING THE KANSAS CITY METRO AREA...AND ST JOSEPH...UNTILL 800 PM.

A MAJOR STORM SYSTEM CENTERED OVER SOUTHWEST KANSAS LATE THIS MORNING
WILL MOVE RAPIDLY NORTHEAST THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT AND INTO THE
WESTERN GREAT LAKES REGION BY EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING.  STRONG SOUTHERLY
WINDS OUT AHEAD OT THIS SYSTEM WILL BRING MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR
NORTHWARD INTO THE CENTRAL PLAINS THIS AFTERNOON.  NORTHERLY WINDS
WRAPPING AROUND THE BACK SIDE OF THE LOW BRING A SURGE OF COLD POLAR
AIR SOUTHWARD.

A COLD FRONT ASSOCIATED WITH THIS SYSTEM WILL PUSH RAPIDLY EAST ACROSS
THE KANSAS CITY METRO AREA THIS EVENING...SETTING THE STAGE FOR
EXPLOSIVE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT.  SOME OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL
LIKELY BECOME SEVERE DURING THE MID TO LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS
ACROSS THE METRO AREA...PRODUCING DESTRUCTIVE WINDS...LARGE HAIL AND
POSSIBILY TORNADOES.

YOU ARE ADVISED TO MON_ITOR RADIO...TV...OR NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR THE
LATEST INFORMATION ON THIS POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS WEATHER SITUATION.

EDF

Special weather statement, Nov 15, 2:08 PM CST, 1 hour 8 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT MO
210 PM CST THU NOV 15 1988

    ...TORNADO WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM CST THIS EVENING
        FOR WESTERN MISSOURI AND EXTREME EASTERN KANSAS...

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL
MISSOURI...INCLUDING THE KANSAS CITY METRO AREA...AND ST JOSEPH...UNTIL
8 PM CST THIS TUESDAY EVENING.

AT 155 PM CST SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS...WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN AND STRONG
GUSTY WINDS...WERE OVER NORTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL MISSOURI AND EASTERN
KANSAS.  THE STRONGEST STORMS WERE 30 MILES NORTHWEST AND 20 MILES EAST
OF ST JOSEPH MISSOURI...ALSO NEAR HARRISONVILLE MISSOURI...AND A LINE
OF STORMS 15 MILES WEST OF TOPEKA KANSAS.

MOVEMENT WAS NORTHEAST AT 45 TO 50 MILES AN HOUR.

AT 127 PM CST A THUNDERSTORM PRODUCED A WIND GUST TO 46 MILES AN HOUR
AT KANSAS CITY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.

SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS THE KANSAS CITY METRO
AREA FOR THE REST OF THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING.  SOME OF THESE
THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIKELY BECOME SEVERE...PRODUCING DESTRUCTIVE
WINDS...LARGE HAIL AND POSSIBILY TORNADOES.

YOU ARE ADVISED TO MONITOR RADIO...TV...OR NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR THE
LATEST INFORMATION ON THIS POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS WEATHER SITUATION.

EDF

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Nov 15, 2:38 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Daviess, DeKalb	67 min
Nov 15, 3:08 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Bates, Cass	67 min
Nov 15, 3:32 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Clay, Platte	13 min
Nov 15, 3:38 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Chariton, Saline	42 min
Nov 15, 3:38 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Linn	42 min
Nov 15, 5:03 PM CST	Tornado Warning	EAX	Pettis	27 min
Nov 15, 5:16 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Cooper, Morgan	44 min
Nov 15, 5:38 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Howard	52 min
Nov 15, 5:38 PM CST	Tornado Warning	EAX	Cooper	37 min
Nov 15, 5:48 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Moniteau	42 min
Nov 15, 5:59 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Boone	61 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kansas, 1988 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Missouri, 1988 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1988

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.