Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 16, NWS Goodland, KS

May 31, 1996Greeley County, Kansas

NWS Goodland, KS issued this tornado warning at May 31, 1996, 5:54 PM MDT for Greeley 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: May 31, 1996, 5:54 PM MDT (23:54 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 1996, 6:55 PM MDT
In force: 61 min
Issued by: NWS Goodland, KS
Area: Whole counties

County Greeley County, KS

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 31, 5:58 PM MDT	Hail 1	Tribune, 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 12:00Z, 11.9 hours before the alert went out and 185 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 KGLD 312354
TORGLD
KSC071-010055-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
554 PM MDT FRI MAY 31 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GOODLAND KS HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 655 PM MDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN WEST CENTRAL KANSAS

   ...GREELEY COUNTY
 
AT 552 PM MDT...A TORNADO WAS REPORTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS 4
MILES WEST OF TRIBUNE OR 2 MILES WEST OF HORACE MOVING E^AST AT 32
MPH.

AT PRESENT MOVEMENT THE TORNADO WILL BE AROUND....
  HORACE                      BY 557 PM MDT
  TRIBUNE                     BY 600 PM MDT

GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR!

KL/MB

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 Goodland, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at May 31, 2:19 PM MDT, 3 hours 35 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 31, 2:19 PM MDT, 3 hours 35 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
217 PM MDT (317 PM CDT) FRI MAY 31 1996

...FCST PROBLEM IS TRW/SVR TRW DVLPMNT AND CVG THRU PERIOD 1...

SHORT WAVE EVIDENT ON VIS SAT IMGRY COMING OUT OF THE ROCKIES
SETTING OFF STG TRW IN E CO ATTM. SKIES HAVE BECOME PTLY SUNNY
ACROSS MOST OF THE WRN HALF OF KS EARLY THIS AFT...AND TEMPS WITHIN 5
DEGREES OF CONVECTIVE THRESHLDS IN THE SOUTH (DDC AT 79 W/ CONV TEMP
85). CAPES AND SHEAR ACROSS THE CWA PRODUCING BULK RICHARDSONS IN
THE 30-50 RANGE INDICATING STRONG POTENTIAL FOR SUPERCELL STORMS TO
DVLP WITH PSBL TORNADOES. HVY PRECIP POTENTIAL WITH THE STORMS IS
MOST THREATENING IN OUR EASTERN AND SOUTHERN COUNTIES...CLOSEST TO
THE HIGHER DEWPOINTS AND HIER PRECIP H20 VALUES...BUT ANY STORMS TO
DVLP WILL LKLY PRODUCE GOOD RAINFALL.

COLD/DRY PUNCH AT 700 WILL PUSH THROUGH BEGINNING EARLY EVE TO
PRODUCE STORMS THRU THE EVE AS WELL...AND THINGS TO SETTLE DOWN BY
MIDNIGHT.

SAT THRU SUN UPPER RIDGE TO AMPLIFY AND PROVIDE PLEASANT CONDITIONS
THROUGH THE AREA WITH SFC HIHG BUILDING IN.

GLD  053/080/050  51-   HLC 057/081/057 61-
CBK  054/081/051  51-   MCK 055/079/053 41-
TRB  055/083/055  61-   ITR 052/081/050 41-

STAVISH

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 31, 2:38 PM MDT, 3 hours 16 minutes before

COZ090>092-KSZ001>004-013>016-027>029-041-042-312240-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
238 PM MDT (338 PM CDT) FRI MAY 31 1996

...A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR NORTHWEST KANSAS AND EXTREME
EAST CENTRAL COLORADO UNTIL 9 PM MDT (10 PM CDT)...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR ALL OF NORTHWEST KANSAS PLUS MUCH OF EAST CENTRAL
COLORADO THROUGH 9 PM MDT (10 PM CDT).  NA TORNADO WATCH MEANS
CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR TORNADOES TO FORM.

IF A THUNDERSTORM MOVES OVER YOUR AREA...SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.

MENTZER

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 31, 4:29 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Wichita	46 min
May 31, 4:31 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Logan	49 min
May 31, 5:16 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Wichita	64 min
May 31, 5:20 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Logan	65 min
May 31, 5:37 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Gove	63 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.