Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1989

Tornado Warning 12, NWS Wichita, KS

August 20, 1989Butler County, Kansas

NWS Wichita, KS issued this tornado warning at Aug 20, 1989, 8:19 PM CDT for Butler County, Kansas. It was in force for 26 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 20, 1989, 8:19 PM CDT (01:19 UTC)
Expired
Aug 20, 1989, 8:45 PM CDT
In force
26 min
Issued by
NWS Wichita, KS
Area
Whole counties

County Butler County, KS

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 00:00Z, 1.3 hours before the alert went out and 171 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 1989-08-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 1989-08-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -19 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
NaN m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-19 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
86 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KICT 210119
TORICT
KSC015-210145-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
TORNADO WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
819 PM CDT SUN AUG 20 1989

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 845 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY

   IN THE SOUTHEAST PART OF KANSAS
      SOUTHEAST BUTLER

AT 816 PM CDT...A TORNADO WAS ON THE GROUND IN EXTREME NORTHEAST
COWLEY COUNTY MOVING TOWARD LATHAM. IT WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT
25 MPH.
PEOPLE IN LATHAM SHOULD TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY.

 THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY. DON/T HESITATE.
 A FEW SECONDS MIGHT SAVE YOUR LIFE.

STEADHAM

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, Aug 20, 8:10 PM CDT, 9 minutes before
KSZ009-011-012-014-017-210200-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
805 AM CDT SUN AUG 20 1989

...THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAINS WERE OVER CENTRAL KANSAS...

THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAINS...SOME GUSTY WINDS AND PEA SIZED
HAIL HAVE DEVELOPED AND MOVED NORTHEAST.  THE THUNDERSTORMS FORMED
25 TO 30 MILES SOUTH OF WICHITA AND HAVE MOVED TO NEAR THE DOUGLASS
AREA OR 20 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF WICHITA.

THUNDER HAS JUST BEEN HEARD AT THE AIRPORT PLUS DEADLY LIGHTNING
OVER HEAD AND EAST OF WICHITA.  ALL STORMS WERE MOVING TO THE
NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.
COUNTY AREAS.

LR
INDOORS AS THESE STORMS PASS AND DO NOT TRY TO CROSS WATER WHICH
IS OVER THE ROAD.

}THESE STORMS WERE PART OF A LARGER AREA OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTOMS
MOVING THROUGH EASTERN KANSAS AND NORTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA.

GAEDE

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 20, 8:16 PM CDTTornado WarningICTCowley29 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Kansas, 1989Every tornado warning in 1989Tornadoes 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.