Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1995

Tornado Warning 18, NWS Topeka, KS

May 17, 1995Shawnee County, Kansas

NWS Topeka, KS issued this tornado warning at May 17, 1995, 3:12 AM CDT for Shawnee County, Kansas. It was in force for 34 min. 1 report 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 17, 1995, 3:12 AM CDT (08:12 UTC)
Expired: May 17, 1995, 3:46 AM CDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Topeka, KS
Area: Whole counties

County Shawnee County, KS

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 17, 3:21 AM CDT	Tornado F0	Silver Lake, KS	A small weak tornado touched down briefly on the west side of Silver Lake, near the COOP business, damaging several buildings, a storage tank and a shed.

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, 8.2 hours before the alert went out and 11 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: 426 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -256 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1533 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 58 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -35 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -5 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KTOP 170812
TORTOP
KSC177-170900-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
312 AM CDT WED MAY 17 1995
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TOPEKA HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  400 AM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN EAST CENTRAL KANSAS
 
   ...SHAWNEE COUNTY
 
AT 310AM DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO AROUND 10 MILES WEST
OF TOPEKA NEAR WILLARD. THIS STORM WAS MOVING EAST AROUND 30 MPM AND
WILL EFFECT TOPEKA SILVER LAKE AND PAULINE UNTIL 4AM. SEEK SHELTER
IMMEDIATELY!.
 
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A STAIRWELL 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.
 
KAYS

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 7:22 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Morris	53 min
May 16, 7:31 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TOP	Dickinson	4 hr
May 16, 7:57 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Lyon, Wabaunsee	33 min
May 16, 8:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Dickinson, Geary	55 min
May 16, 8:34 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Osage	26 min
May 16, 8:59 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Douglas, Osage	46 min
May 16, 9:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Ottawa	53 min
May 16, 9:10 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TOP	Dickinson, Geary, Morris	4 hr
May 16, 9:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Geary	40 min
May 16, 9:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Franklin	48 min
May 16, 9:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Dickinson	43 min
May 16, 9:39 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TOP	Douglas, Osage, Shawnee	4 hr
May 16, 9:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Douglas	36 min
May 16, 10:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Lyon, Morris, Wabaunsee	41 min
May 16, 11:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Osage	36 min
May 16, 11:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Douglas, Franklin	32 min
May 17, 1:05 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TOP	Dickinson, Geary	3 hr
May 17, 1:21 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TOP	Douglas, Osage, Shawnee	3 hr
May 17, 1:21 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TOP	Franklin	3 hr
May 17, 1:26 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Ottawa	49 min
May 17, 1:46 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Dickinson	44 min
May 17, 1:57 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Ottawa	48 min
May 17, 2:05 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Dickinson	25 min
May 17, 2:19 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Geary	41 min
May 17, 2:46 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Clay	44 min
May 17, 2:51 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Wabaunsee	39 min
May 17, 2:54 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TOP	Wabaunsee	3 hr
May 17, 3:38 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Douglas, Jefferson	37 min
May 17, 3:55 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Morris	35 min
May 17, 3:55 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Dickinson	30 min
May 17, 3:59 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TOP	Dickinson, Geary	4 hr
May 17, 4:09 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TOP	Douglas, Franklin, Osage, Shawnee	4 hr
May 17, 4:20 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Morris	28 min
May 17, 4:41 AM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Lyon	37 min
May 17, 4:52 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TOP	Wabaunsee	4 hr
May 17, 5:10 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Osage	36 min
May 17, 5:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Coffey	25 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Kansas, 1995 Every tornado warning in 1995 Tornadoes in 1995

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.