Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Hastings, NE

May 22, 1996Jewell County, Kansas

NWS Hastings, NE issued this tornado warning at May 22, 1996, 9:45 PM CDT for Jewell County, Kansas. It was in force for 30 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 22, 1996, 9:45 PM CDT (02:45 UTC)
Expired
May 22, 1996, 10:15 PM CDT
In force
30 min
Issued by
NWS Hastings, NE
Area
Whole counties

County Jewell County, KS

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 63 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:47 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

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 00:00Z, 2.8 hours before the alert went out and 231 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, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 1996-05-23Temperature 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, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 1996-05-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 147 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
1697 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
147 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
501 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KGRI 230246 RRA
TORGRI
KSC089-230315-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
945 PM CDT WED MAY 22 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HASTINGS NE  HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1015 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS
 
   ...EASTERN JEWELL COUNTY
 
IF YOU LIVE MANKATO MONTROSE AND WEBBER GO TO YOUR TORNADO SHELTER
NOW!
 
AT 944 PM...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO 30 MILES
NORTHWEST OF CONCORDIA...OR JUST SOUTH OF LOVEWELL RESERVOIR.
THIS STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.
 
BOATERS AND CAMPERS AT LOVEWELL RESERVIOR SHOULD SEEK SHELTER NOW!
 
 
 
 
PEOPLE IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO SHOULD TAKE COVER IN A REINFORCED
SHELTER.

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.

NWS Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at May 22, 2:36 PM CDT, 7 hours 9 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 22, 2:36 PM CDT, 7 hours 9 minutes before
CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
235 PM CDT TUE MAY 21 1996

MOST OF THE FREE WORLD EXPECTS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY ACROSS THE
CWA...FORECAST PROBLEM IS TIMING AND EXACT LOCATIONS.

AT 18Z WARM FRONT (BASED ON 55 DEW POINTS) IN NORTHERN KS WITH A COOLER
AIR MASS SAGGIGNG SOUTHWARD FROM THE NORTHERN PLAINS.  ALSO CIRCULATION
AROUND A HIGH OVER MO WAS PUMPING SOME DRIER AIR INTO THE AREA.  UEX 88D
STARTING TO SHOW MID LEVEL REFLECTIVITIES ALONG A LINE FROM EAR TO HEBRON.
12Z U/A ANAL HAD 5H RIDGE OVHD WITH A LOW OVER THE PAC NW.  S/W DETECTED
OVER GREAT BASIN AND WV IMAGERY SHOWING THIS FEATURE MOVG EAST.

MODELS SIMILIAR IN THE DEEPING OF THE PAC NW LOW AND KEEP SW FLOW ALOFT.
IN ADDITION LOW PRESSURE IS MAINTAINED IN SW KS WITH A FRONTAL BOUNDARY
IN THE AREA NOT GOING ANYWHERE.  THEATA-E SUGGEST HEAVY RAIN IN ERN PTN
OF NEB CWA AND AGREE WITH OMA ON THE FFW FOR THE ERN COUNTIES.  WHEN LBF
SOUNDING MODIFIED THIS MORNING ATMOSPHERE BECOMES MODERATELY UNSTABLE AND
SO BELIEVE ITS JUST A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THINGS COME TOGETHER.  WITH
LITTLE CHANGE IN THE OVERALL PATTERN LOOKS LIKE THURSDAY COULD BE A REPEAT
OF TODAY.  LOOKING FURTHER AHEAD FRIDAY LOOKS LIKE OVERRUNNING IN PLACE
SO IT APPEARS THE DROUGHT WILL CONTINUE.

MCS/MCC DEVELOPING TONIGHT NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION.

NUMERICAL GUIDANCE DEFINITELY SHOW A TEMPERATURE BOUNDARY BETWEEN SC NEB
AND NC KS.

GRI 058/075 74         HBR 057/076 74
ODX 055/070 74         BLT 062/088 62
LXN 055/072 74

GRIFFITH

The office that day

Everything else NWS Hastings, NE issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 22, 11:04 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDJewell41 min
May 22, 11:19 PM CDTTornado WarningGIDJewell41 min
May 22, 11:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDPhillips45 min
May 23, 12:03 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDJewell42 min
May 23, 12:41 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDPhillips34 min
May 23, 1:17 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDPhillips, Smith43 min
May 23, 1:42 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDSmith33 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Kansas, 1996Every tornado warning in 1996Tornadoes 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.