Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 57, NWS Wichita, KS

May 9, 1996Reno County, Kansas

NWS Wichita, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 9, 1996, 6:51 PM CDT for Reno County, Kansas. It was in force for 69 min. 6 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: May 9, 1996, 6:51 PM CDT (23:51 UTC)
Expired: May 9, 1996, 8:00 PM CDT
In force: 69 min
Issued by: NWS Wichita, KS
Area: Whole counties

County Reno County, KS

The radar

The Wichita radar (KICT), 66 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:53 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
May 9, 6:53 PM CDT	Hail 1	Sterling, KS
May 9, 6:58 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Plevna, KS
May 9, 7:17 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Sylvia, KS
May 9, 7:17 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Nickerson, KS
May 9, 7:17 PM CDT	Hail 1	Plevna, KS
May 9, 7:50 PM CDT	Hail 1	Plevna, 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 161 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: 1797 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -413 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1145 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 90 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 100 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.1

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 Wichita, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 9, 3:09 PM CDT, 3 hours 42 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 9, 3:09 PM CDT, 3 hours 42 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
305 PM CDT THU MAY 9 1996

DISCUSSION: (GOING WITH PERSISTENCE)

18Z SFC MAP CONTINUES TO SHOW  BOUNDARY WEST OF CWA...DDC 88D SHOWED
BOUNDARY FAIRLY WELL ALSO.  COLD FRONT IS CURRENTLY MOVING THORUGH
NEBRASKA PANHANDLE.  ONLY QUESTION IS WILL THE CAP BREAK DOWN ENOUGH TO
FIRE THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT. GUSTY SOUTH WINDS CONTINUING TO PUMP MOISTURE
INTO CWA.  LOOKING AT ADAP...CAP STRENGTH NOT ERODING MUCH AS OF NOW...
BUT SHORT WAVE IS STILL TO THE WEST...LOOKING AT WIND PROFILER DATA.
LOOKING AT H5 AND H3 SEE GOOD DIFFLUENCE OVER KANSAS. ALSO SEE GOOD
DIFLUENCE IN THE THICKNESS FIELDS...WHICH SHOULD HELP INDUCE ANOTHER
MESOSCALE CONVECTIVE SYSTEM (MCS)  OVER ENTIRE CWA.  H7 SHOWS PRETTY
GOOD CAP OVER WESTERN KANSAS...WHICH  SHOULD BREAK DOWN SOMEWHAT AS
SHORTWAVE MOVES ACROSS THE STATE.  MODELS  SHOW COOL(COLD) FRONT
CONTINUING TO MOVE SOUTHEAST...WHICH SHOULD AID IN  MOVING SFC BOUNDARY
TO THE EAST WHICH WILL HELP PROVIDE MORE LIFT FOR  THUNDERSTORM
DEVELOPMENT WEST OF CWA.  AS SHORT WAVE MOVES THROUGH THE AREA FEEL
THAT THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WILL OCCUR...SOME MAY BECOME SEVERE (REPEAT
OF LAST FEW DAYS).

CONSIDERING AMOUNT OF PRECIP THAT HAS OCCURRED OVER CENTRAL CWA AND RENO
AND HARVEY COUNTIES LAST FEW DAYS AND PRECIP RETURNING TONIGHT...FEEL A
FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS A GOOD IDEA FOR TONIGHT.

AS FOR FRIDAY...THUNDERSTORMS FCST LOOK GOOD ALONG WITH SLIGHTLY COOLER
TEMPS.

RSL 059/068 74   SLN 060/070 74
ICT 068/077 75   HUT 065/073 75
CNU 068/079 66

KIRKWOOD

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 9, 1:20 PM CDT, 5 hours 31 minutes before

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The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 8, 7:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Reno	56 min
May 8, 8:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Reno	61 min
May 8, 8:53 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Reno	52 min
May 8, 9:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Kingman, Reno	47 min
May 8, 9:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Harvey, Sedgwick	44 min
May 8, 10:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Sedgwick	52 min
May 8, 10:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Sedgwick	50 min
May 9, 6:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Rice	69 min
May 9, 6:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	McPherson	62 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kansas, 1996 Every 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.