Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 121, NWS Dodge City, KS

May 31, 1996Scott County, Kansas

NWS Dodge City, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 31, 1996, 6:02 PM CDT for Scott County, Kansas. It was in force for 43 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 31, 1996, 6:02 PM CDT (23:02 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 1996, 6:45 PM CDT
In force: 43 min
Issued by: NWS Dodge City, KS
Area: Whole counties

County Scott County, KS

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 115 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:02 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 118 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: 405 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -338 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 951 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 171 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 213 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 KDDC 312303
SVRDDC
KSC171-312345-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
602 PM CDT FRI MAY 31 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DODGE CITY HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  645 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN WEST CENTRAL KANSAS
 
   ...WESTERN SCOTT COUNTY
 
AT 600 PM CDT DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ENTERING
WESTERN SCOTT COUNTY 2 MILES NORTH OF THE TOWN OF MODOC OR ABOUT 8 MILES
WEST NORTHWEST OF SCOTT CITY. GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL CAN BE EXPECTED WITH
THIS STORM.
 
PERSONS IN THE PATH OF THE STORM SHOULD MOVE INDOORS TO A STURDY
SHELTER AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.  IN jADDITION...A TORNADO WATCH IS
IN EFFECT FOR THE WARNED AREA.  REMEMBER SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND
OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCE WARNING.
 
MCAVOY/CICCONE

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.

NWS Dodge City, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 31, 3:43 PM CDT, 2 hours 19 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 31, 3:43 PM CDT, 2 hours 19 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
340 PM CDT FRI MAY 31 1996

WILL KEEP THIS SHORT AS WATCH BOXES AND CONVECTION ARE STARTING TO
GO UP.

WEAK S/W IS EVIDENT ON WV THIS EVENING. CONVECTION IS BEGINING TO FIRE
WITH THIS FEATURE ALONG A DRY LINE/CONVERGENCE ZONE. CAPES ARE AROUND
3000 AND PRECIPITABLE WATER IS QUITE HIGH AS WELL. THIS LOOKS LIKE A BUSY
EVENING. XPT THE THUNDERSTORMS TO MOVE EAST OF MOST OF THE CWA BY OR
SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT. HAVE WORDED ZONES ACCORDINGLY.

THE NEXT TWO DAYS LOOK RATHER QUIET AS A WEAK COLD FRONT PUSHES ACROSS
OK SATURDAY AND SAT NIGHT. WENT FAIRLY CLOSE TO GUIDANCE. THE ONLY
POTENTIAL PROBLEM IS RETURN FLOW ON SUNDAY...WITH ENOUGH MOISTURE
POSSIBLY RETURNING TO KICK OFF A FEW TRW IN THE SW PART OF THE CWA.
WILL LEAVE THAT FOR LATER SHIFT TO PONDER.

DDC BB 060/080 056/083 055 610
GCK BB 057/082 055/084 054 610
EHA BB 056/084 054/085 056 400
LBL BB 059/083 058/083 055 n610
HYS BB 058/079 055/081 053 610
P28 BB 063/082 059/084 056 610

MCAVOY

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 31, 4:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Ness, Trego	41 min
May 31, 4:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Lane	56 min
May 31, 4:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Ness	46 min
May 31, 5:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Morton	50 min
May 31, 5:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Scott	41 min
May 31, 5:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Ness	48 min
May 31, 5:37 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Ness	53 min
May 31, 5:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Rush	45 min
May 31, 5:48 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Morton	42 min
May 31, 6:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Stevens	30 min
May 31, 6:25 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Ness, Rush	50 min
May 31, 6:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Morton	15 min
May 31, 6:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Gray	41 min
May 31, 6:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Lane	43 min
May 31, 6:48 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Stevens	42 min
May 31, 6:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Lane	38 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kansas, 1996 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1996

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.