Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 32, NWS Goodland, KS

July 23, 1996Rawlins County, Kansas

NWS Goodland, KS issued this tornado warning at Jul 23, 1996, 2:49 PM CDT for Rawlins County, Kansas. It was in force for 51 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: Jul 23, 1996, 2:49 PM CDT (19:49 UTC)
Expired: Jul 23, 1996, 3:40 PM CDT
In force: 51 min
Issued by: NWS Goodland, KS
Area: Whole counties

County Rawlins County, KS

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 71 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:53 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
Jul 23, 2:57 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Mc Donald, 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 12:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 155 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: 1226 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -121 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1063 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 85 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 28 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KGLD 231949
TORGLD
KSC153-232040-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
149 PM MDT (249 PM CDT) TUE JUL 23 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GOODLAND KS HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 340 PM CDT (240 PM MDT)
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTHWEST KANSAS

   ...SOUTHWESTERN RAWLINS COUNTY
 
AT 248 PM CDT...A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY GOODLAND DOPPLER
RADAR 14 MILES SOUTHW"EST OF ATWOOD OR 10 MILES SOUTHEAST OF MCDONALD
MOVING EAST AT 17 MPH. THE TORNADO IS CURRENTLY EXPECTED TO REMAIN
OVER RURAL AREAS.

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

MATHEWSON

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 Jul 23, 3:21 AM CDT, 11 hours 28 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 23, 3:21 AM CDT, 11 hours 28 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
221 AM MDT (321 AM CDT) TUE JUL 23 1996

MAIN PROBLEM CONTINUES TO BE PCPN CHANCES.

DID TIME/HEIGHT CROSS SECTION OF VORT ADVECTION AND ALL MODELS HAD
INCRG PVA WITH HGT ABOUT 00Z-06Z FOR UPCOMING NIGHT. THIS SEEMS TO
AGREE WITH PROGRESS OF WAVE WATER VAPOR CURVE NOW SHOWS PUSHING INTO
MONTANA. THIS IMPLIES FRONT TO OUR S TO RETREAT N SOMEWHAT TODAY AS
WAVE CAUSES PRESSURE FALLS.

HOWEVER...LATEST SFC ANALYSIS HAS BEST PRES FALLS STILL WELL TO
SOUTH OF GLD AREA. LOOKS LIKE NGM SOLN WORKING OUT BETTER THAN ETA
WHICH IMPLIES FRONT ONLY ARRIVING OVR SE PTNS CWA TODAY. WITH HIGH
MOISTURE AVAIABLE ON WARM SIDE OF FRONT GOING WITH A PRETTY SHARP
POP GRADIENT FROM SE TO NW...ESPECIALLY TNGT WHEN SHORT WAVE WILL BE
AROUND.

FOR TEMPS...WILL ALSO GO WITH SE TO NW GRADIENT. GENERALLY EXCEEDING
GUIDANCE TODAY. THIS BECAUSE MESO/RUC MODELS DON'T INCREASE
HUMIDITIES OVR 70 PER BY 12Z THIS MORNING AND CURRENT TEMP/DEWPOINT
SPREADS HIGHER THAN AT SAME TIME YESTERDAY. THUS NOT TOO MUCH CLUDS
TODAY...AND WITH SUN OUT GUIDANCE LOOKS A LITTLE LOW BASED ON WHERE
OUR AIR WAS YESTERDAY. FOR TMRW BELOW GUIDANCE BASED ON TRAJS AND
TENDENCY OF MOS NOT TO MAINTAIN ENOUGH TEMP GRADIENT ACROSS FRONTS.

GLD 085/058/080 352  HLC 087/061/083 362
CBK 085/059/080 352  MCK 083/058/080 241
TRB 088/060/081 463  ITR 084/058/079 232

KWIATKOWSKI

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 23, 10:53 AM CDT, 3 hours 56 minutes before

COZ090>092-NEZ079>081-KSZ001>004-013>016-027>029-041-042-240600-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
954 AM MDT (1054 AM CDT) TUE JUL 23 1996

THIS OUTLOOK PERTAINS TO THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES

CHEYENNE CO   CHEYENNE KS   DECATUR KS     DUNDY NE        GOVE KS
GRAHAM KS     GREELEY KS    HITCHCOCK NE   KIT CARSON CO   LOGAN KS
NORTON KS     RAWLINS KS    RED WILLOW NE  SHERIDAN KS     SHERMAN KS
THOMAS KS     WALLACE KS    WICHITA KS     YUMA CO

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED.

SYNOPSIS: WARM MOIST AIR OVER THE REGION WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY
UNSTABLE AS AFTERNOON HEATING TAKES PLACE. AN UPPER LEVEL
DISTURBANCE MOVING INTO THE HIGH PLAINS IS FORECAST TO PRODUCE
SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE REGION THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AND
INTO THE EVENING. SOME OF THESE STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE WITH LARGE
HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED OVER ALL OF NORTHWEST KANSAS...
SOUTHWEST NEBRAdSKA AND EXTREME EAST CENTRAL COLORADO THIS AFTERNOON.

TURNER

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 23, 2:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Cheyenne	50 min
Jul 23, 2:32 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GLD	Cheyenne	33 min
Jul 23, 3:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Thomas	63 min
Jul 23, 3:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Thomas	64 min
Jul 23, 3:32 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GLD	Thomas	33 min
Jul 23, 3:54 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GLD	Thomas	31 min
Jul 23, 4:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GLD	Logan	32 min
Jul 23, 4:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Decatur	51 min
Jul 23, 4:37 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GLD	Logan	48 min
Jul 23, 5:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Norton	65 min
Jul 23, 5:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Gove	48 min
Jul 23, 5:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Logan	36 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.