Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1996
Tornado Warning 33, NWS Goodland, KS
NWS Goodland, KS issued this tornado warning at Jul 23, 1996, 3:32 PM CDT for Thomas County, Kansas. It was in force for 33 min. 5 reports 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, 3:32 PM CDT (20:32 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 23, 1996, 4:05 PM CDT
- In force
- 33 min
- Issued by
- NWS Goodland, KS
- Area
- Whole counties
County Thomas County, KS
The radar
The Goodland radar (KGLD), 56 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:34 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, 3:35 PM CDT | Hail 1 | Colby, KS | |
| Jul 23, 3:35 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Colby, KS | |
| Jul 23, 3:40 PM CDT | Hail 2.75 | Levant, KS | |
| Jul 23, 4:05 PM CDT | Hail 2 | Colby, KS | |
| Jul 23, 4:08 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Colby, 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
Denver, CO (KDNR), launched 12:00Z, 8.5 hours before the alert went out and 195 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 711 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -291 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1597 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 35 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 57 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 79 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.7
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KGLD 232033 TORGLD KSC193-232105- BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 232 PM MDT (332 PM CDT) TUE JUL 23 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GOODLAND KS HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 405 PM CDT (305 PM MDT) FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN NORTHWEST KANSAS ...CENTRAL THOMAS COUNTY AT 332 PM CDT...A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY GOODLAND DOPPLER RADAR AND SPOTTER REPORTS 4 MILES WEST OF COLBY OR 3 MILES NORTHEAST OF LEVANT MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 23 MPH. AT PRESENT MOVEMENT THE TORNADO WILL BE AROUND.... COLBY BY 344 PM CDT 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, 3:19 PM CDT, 13 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 23, 3:19 PM CDT, 13 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 219 PM MDT (319 PM CDT) TUE JUL 23 1996 ...MAIN FORECAST PROBLEMS TEMPERATURES AND CHANCES FOR PRECIPITATION... WHILE MODELS CONSISTENT WITH NORTHWEST FLOW OVER THE REGION...LOTS OF DISCREPANCIES IN TIMING AND STRENGTH OF SHORT WAVES MOVING THROUGH THIS FLOW. AGREE THAT ETA HAS HAD PROBLEMS WITH CONVECTIVE FEEDBACK (SEE PMDHMD)...WHILE NGM HAS BEEN OFF ON TIMING OF SHORT WAVES MOVING THROUGH. AVN FOLLOWING NGM ON TIMING...BUT GENERALLY WEAKER WITH ALL SYSTEMS THAT PASS OVER THE REGION. THUS LITTLE CONFIDENCE IN TIMING/STRENGTH OF SYSTEMS. FIRST WAVE STILL FIRING THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE NORTHERN SECTIONS OF THE REGION...WITH THIS ACTIVITY SPREADING TO THE SOUTHEAST. LOOKING AT SATELLITE WATER VAPOR IMAGERY...APPEARS NEXT WAVE NOT QUITE AS STRONG AS EARLIER FORECAST BY MODEL RUNS. BUT WITH ATMOSPHERE UNSTABLE...WILL NOT TAKE MUCH TO TRIGGER THUNDERSTORMS IN THOSE AREAS AWAY FROM CURRENT CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY...SO 40-50 PERCENT POPS LOOK PRETTY GOOD FOR OVERNIGHT. AFTER THEN...WILL LOWER POPS PER FWC NUMBERS DUE TO UNCERTAINTY OF TIMING OF NEXT SYSTEMS MOVING INTO THE REGION. COOL OUTFLOW AIR WILL HELP DROP TEMPERATURES OFF LATER TONIGHT. FWC NUMBERS TOO WARM PAST FEW DAYS ON OVERNIGHT LOWS...AND TREND TO CONTINUE IN SHORT TERM. FWC NUMBERS LOOK ABOUT RIGHT IN OUT PERIODS. GLD 057/079/058/082 422 HLC 061/083/060/085 642 CBK 059/081/059/082 422 MCK 059/080/058/082 532 TRB 060/082/059/083 423 ITR 057/079/057/081 322 TURNER
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Jul 23, 10:53 AM CDT, 4 hours 39 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
Special weather statement, Jul 23, 3:18 PM CDT, 14 minutes before
COZ090>092-KSZ001>004-013>016-027>029-041-042-232120- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 218 PM MDT (318 PM CDT) TUE JUL 23 1996 ...A TORNADO WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR NORTHWEST KANSAS AND EXTREME EASTERN COLORADO UNTIL 9 PM MDT... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WATCH FOR NORTHWEST KANSAS AND EXTREME EASTERN COLORADO UNTIL 9 PM MDT. A TORNADO WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR TORNADOES TO FORM IN AND NEAR THE WATCH AREA. IF A THUNDERSTORM MOVES NEAR YOUR AREA...SEEK SHELTER INSIDE A REINFORCED BUILDING IMMEDIATELY. MENTZER
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, 2:49 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | GLD | Rawlins | 51 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, 3:54 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, 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.