Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1989

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 37, NWS Wichita, KS

May 21, 1989Montgomery County, Kansas

NWS Wichita, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 21, 1989, 12:33 PM CDT for Montgomery County, Kansas. It was in force for 57 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 21, 1989, 12:33 PM CDT (17:33 UTC)
Expired
May 21, 1989, 1:30 PM CDT
In force
57 min
Issued by
NWS Wichita, KS
Area
Whole counties

County Montgomery 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 21, 1:02 PM CDTHail 0.75Montgomery, KS
May 21, 1:09 PM CDTHail 1Montgomery, 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

Springfield, MO (KUMN), launched 12:00Z, 5.6 hours before the alert went out and 175 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, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 1989-05-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 171 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, Springfield, MO at 12:00Z on 1989-05-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 133 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
171 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-167 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1091 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
133 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
164 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
4.3

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 21, 7:18 AM CDT, 5 hours 15 minutes before
KSZ009-009-011-012-014-017-211330-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
715 AM CDT SUN MAY 21 1989

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR PARTS OF CENTRAL
KANSAS TIL 1 PM...

AT 712 AM CDT...STORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN WERE LOCATED 10 AND 15 MILES
NORTHWEST OF EMPORIA...7 AND 15 MILES NORTHWEST OF SALINA...AND  JUST
NORTHWEST OF RUSSELL.  MOVEMENT FOR ALL OF THESE STORMS WAS EAST AT
30 TO 35 MILES AN HOUR.

SHOWERS WERE IN A LARGE AREA WEST OF A LINE FROM WEST OF TOPEKA TO
EMPORIA TO JUST NORTH OF WICHITA.

BURKE
Special weather statement, May 21, 8:13 AM CDT, 4 hours 20 minutes before
KSZ009-009-011-012-014-017-211430-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
812 AM CDT SUN MAY 21 1989

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR PARTS OF CENTRAL
KANSAS TIL 1 PM...

AT 805 AM CDT...THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN...STRONG GUSTY WINDS
AND POSSIBLE SMALL HAIL WERE 12 MILES EAST-SOUTHEAST OF RUSSELL AND
25 MILES NORTWEST OF SALINA.  MOVEMENT WAS EAST-SOUTHEAST AT 35 MILES
AN HOUR.

OTHER SHOWERS AND 3THUNDERSTORMS WERE IN AN AREA NORTH OF A LINE FROM
SOUTH OF EMPORIA TO NEAR WICHITA.  NEW THUNDERSTORMS HAD DEVELOPED
NEAR THE KINGMAN AREA SINCE 735 AM.

BURKE

The office that day

Everything else NWS Wichita, KS issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 21, 8:38 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTSedgwick, Sumner67 min
May 21, 9:11 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTCowley, Sumner64 min
May 21, 9:44 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTButler61 min
May 21, 9:44 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTHarvey, Sedgwick51 min
May 21, 10:38 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTButler67 min
May 21, 11:01 AM CDTTornado WarningICTButler, Cowley29 min
May 21, 11:13 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTMarion62 min
May 21, 11:27 AM CDTTornado WarningICTButler, Cowley33 min
May 21, 12:01 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTHarvey44 min
May 21, 12:09 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTButler66 min
May 21, 12:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTChautauqua, Elk61 min
May 21, 12:55 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTElk, Greenwood65 min
May 21, 1:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTChautauqua, Montgomery66 min
May 21, 2:26 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTCherokee, Labette34 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kansas, 1989Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1989

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.