Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1990

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 56, NWS Topeka, KS

May 24, 1990Ellsworth County, Kansas

NWS Topeka, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 24, 1990, 5:10 PM CDT for Ellsworth County, Kansas. It was in force for 65 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 24, 1990, 5:10 PM CDT (22:10 UTC)
Expired: May 24, 1990, 6:15 PM CDT
In force: 65 min
Issued by: NWS Topeka, KS
Area: Whole counties

County Ellsworth 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 24, 5:38 PM CDT	Tornado F3	Ellsworth, KS
May 24, 5:50 PM CDT	Tornado F3	Ellsworth, 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

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 12:00Z, 10.2 hours before the alert went out and 180 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: NaN m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 279 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 286 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KCNK 242210
SVRCNK
KSC053-242315-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CONCORDIA KS
510 PM CDT THU MAY 24 1990

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 615 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING 
COUNTY

   IN THE CENTRAL PART OF KANSAS
      ELLSWORTH

AT 509 PM CDT RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM LOCATED 15 MILES
NORTHEAST OF GREAT BEND NEAR CLAFLIN.  THIS STORM WAS MOVING
NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH AND SHOULD BE IN THE ELLSWORTH AREA BY 600 PM
CDT.

A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA SO REMEMBER
THESE STORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE A TORNADO WITH LITTLE
OR NO ADVANCE WARNING...SO BE ON THE LOOKOUT.

PEOPLE IN THE WARNED AREA SHOULD GET INTO A REINFORCED SHELTER AND
PREPARE FOR DAMAGING WINDS...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN AND
DANGEROUS LIGHTNING.  THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM MAY PRODUCE LARGE
HAIL GREATER THAN 3/4 INCH IN DIAMETER...DESTRUCTIVE WINDS OF OVER
60 MPH AND HEAVY RAINS WHICH MAY FLOOD LOW LYING AREAS.

URBAN

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 24, 3:59 PM CDT, 1 hour 11 minutes before

KSZ007-008-010-011-242200-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CONCORDIA KS
359 PM CDT THU MAY 24 1990

AT 359 PM RADAR SHOWED A THUNDERSTORM LOCATED 10 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
GREAT BEND OR JUST NORTH OF PAWNEE ROCK.  THE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE IN
THE GREAT BEND AREA BY 415 PM.  THIS STORM IS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

URBAN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 24, 4:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Barton	40 min
May 24, 5:07 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Barton	53 min
May 24, 5:16 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Ellsworth	44 min
May 24, 5:53 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	McPherson, Rice	52 min
May 24, 6:23 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	McPherson	52 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kansas, 1990 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1990

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.