Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 270, NWS Goodland, KS

August 6, 1996Decatur County, Kansas

NWS Goodland, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 6, 1996, 7:29 PM CDT for Decatur County, Kansas. It was in force for 61 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
Aug 6, 1996, 7:29 PM CDT (00:29 UTC)
Expired
Aug 6, 1996, 8:30 PM CDT
In force
61 min
Issued by
NWS Goodland, KS
Area
Whole counties

County Decatur County, KS

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 116 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:33 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Aug 6, 7:30 PM CDTHail 0.75Oberlin, 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

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 00:00Z, 0.5 hours before the alert went out and 150 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, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 00:00Z on 1996-08-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2637 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 00:00Z on 1996-08-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 26 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
2637 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-16 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1615 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
26 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
140 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.4
Supercell composite
6.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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 Goodland, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Aug 6, 2:40 PM CDT, 4 hours 49 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 6, 2:40 PM CDT, 4 hours 49 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
140 PM MDT (240 PM CDT) TUE AUG 6 1996

...BIG CHALLENGE IS TSTM CHANCES THIS EVE/TONIGHT...

ETA MDL OF CHOICE DUE TO SFC FTRS AND PAST PERFORMANCE.
ETA SFC LOW OVR KS/NE BORDER THIS EVE WITH LOW LVL MSTR CONVERGENCE
POOLING NEAR LOW VCNTY.  BEST UPWARD FORCING IS INDICATED ON TOP OF
AND N OF THIS SFC LOW.  MODIFIED MORNING SNDGS ALSO POINT TO THIS
AREA WITH MUCH MORE POTENTIAL ENERGY AND INSTABILITY.  A MODIFIED
SOUNDING BETWEEN MCK-LBF OUTPUTS CAPE OF AROUND 5000 J/KG.

S AND W OF THIS AREA...SFC DEWPOINTS HAVE DRIED OUT THIS AFTN
WITH SW SFC WNDS AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT.  TAIL END OF S/WV SHOULD
EFFECT FAR E COLO INTO NW KS WITH RETURN OF LOW LVL MSTR FORECAST.
ATTM...STRONG CAP INDICATED BY ADAPS OVR HI PLAINS SPCLY W OF GLD.
ARRIVAL OF COLD FRONT THIS EVE AND 850-700 TEMP ADVECTION WILL HELP
DESTABILIZE THE AMS.  STILL CONCERN ABT ETA KEEPING DRIER AIR
OVR FAR NW KS/E COLO.  WITH MAIN ENERGY JUST N OF CWA AND UPPER LVL
FLOW MORE SW TO NE...FEEL ANY ACTIVITY WILL BE MOSTLY OUT OF FA.

IN OUT PERIODS...FRONT AND ASSOCIATED MSTR CONVERGENCE PUSHES SE
LATER TONIGHT.  STRONG SFC HI PRESSURE BUILDS OVR E COLO INTO W
KS WEDNESDAY MORNING WITH AMS BCMG MORE STABLE.  MDLS AGREE IN
PUSHING DRIER AIR INTO AREA WED AND THURS WITH BUILDING 500MB HGTS.

GLD 56/83/58/90 10-    HLC 62/86/61/91 2--
CBK 58/84/60/91 10-    MCK 62/84/60/90 30-
TRB 58/85/60/91 -0-    ITR 55/82/57/89 10-

KPL

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 6, 6:57 PM CDT, 32 minutes before
KSZ001>004-013>016-NEZ080-081-070400-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
556 PM MDT (656 PM CDT) TUE AUG 6 1996

...A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR PARTS OF NORTHWEST KANSAS AND
SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA UNTIL 10 PM MDT (11 PM CDT)...

A LINE OF STRONG-TO-SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE SLOWLY TO
THE NORTHEAST ACROSS THE WATCH AREA THIS EVENING. EXPECT SOME OF
THE CELLS IN THIS LINE OF STORMS TO PRODUCE TORNADOES.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS THAT TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE IN
AND NEAR THE WATCH AREA.  LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS MAY ALSO
OCCUR.  BE READY TO MOVE TO A BASEMENT OR STORM CELLAR IF A WARNING
IS ISSUED FOR YOUR AREA.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIZO...RADIO OR TELEVISION FOR THE
LATEST UPDATES AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS CONCERNING THIS DANGEROUS
WEATHER SITUATION.

VOJTESAK

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 6, 7:07 PM CDTTornado WarningGLDThomas48 min
Aug 6, 7:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDDecatur63 min
Aug 6, 7:53 PM CDTTornado WarningGLDThomas47 min
Aug 6, 7:58 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDRawlins47 min
Aug 6, 8:11 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDNorton49 min
Aug 6, 8:34 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDRawlins, Thomas61 min
Aug 6, 8:50 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDDecatur65 min
Aug 6, 9:18 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningGLDRawlins4 hr
Aug 6, 9:33 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDRawlins47 min
Aug 6, 10:28 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDRawlins62 min
Aug 6, 10:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDCheyenne62 min
Aug 6, 11:38 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDRawlins62 min
Aug 7, 12:04 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDDecatur66 min
Aug 7, 12:39 AM CDTTornado WarningGLDSherman51 min
Aug 7, 1:38 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningGLDDecatur, Rawlins6 hr
Aug 6, 11:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDKit Carson47 min
Aug 7, 12:14 AM CDTTornado WarningGLDKit Carson46 min
Aug 7, 12:34 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDKit Carson66 min
Aug 6, 9:47 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDHitchcock, Red Willow63 min

Nearby

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