Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Dodge City, KS

May 8, 1996Pratt County, Kansas

NWS Dodge City, KS issued this tornado warning at May 8, 1996, 10:00 PM CDT for Pratt County, Kansas. It was in force for 30 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 8, 1996, 10:00 PM CDT (03:00 UTC)
Expired: May 8, 1996, 10:30 PM CDT
In force: 30 min
Issued by: NWS Dodge City, KS
Area: Whole counties

County Pratt County, KS

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 109 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:01 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.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 8, 10:00 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Cullison, 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 00:00Z, 3.0 hours before the alert went out and 103 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: 564 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -249 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2811 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 104 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 304 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 090301
TORDDC
KSC151-090330-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
1000 PM CDT WED MAY 8 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DODGE CITY HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1030 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS
 
   ...NORTHERN PRATT COUNTY
 
AT 10 PM...DOPPLER RADAR AND STORM SPOTTERS INDICATED A TORNADO 3 MILES
SOUTHWEST OF HOPEWELL MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH. THE TORNADO WILL BE IN THE
BYERS AREA BY 1015 PM. PERSONS IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO SHOULD TAKE
IMMEDIATE SHELTER NOW!!!
 
 
THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS STORM.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH
OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUhND IF AVAILABLE.
OTHERWISE GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE.
AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A STURDIER BUILDING
OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.
 
PARKIN
 
&

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 8, 7:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Stafford	45 min
May 8, 7:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Edwards	53 min
May 8, 7:24 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	DDC	Stafford	3 hr
May 8, 7:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Stafford	64 min
May 8, 7:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Edwards, Ford, Kiowa	66 min
May 8, 8:48 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Edwards	32 min
May 8, 8:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Kiowa	32 min
May 8, 9:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Edwards, Pratt, Stafford	56 min
May 8, 9:43 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	DDC	Edwards	4 hr
May 8, 10:20 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	DDC	Stafford	3 hr
May 8, 10:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Pratt, Stafford	46 min
May 9, 5:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Comanche	49 min
May 9, 6:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Barber	50 min
May 9, 6:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Pratt	33 min
May 9, 6:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Comanche	33 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Kansas, 1996 Every tornado warning in 1996 Tornadoes 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.