Alert archive / Kansas / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996
Flash Flood Warning 5, NWS Topeka, KS
NWS Topeka, KS issued this flash flood warning at May 31, 1996, 5:45 PM CDT for Clay County, Kansas. It was in force for 2 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- May 31, 1996, 5:45 PM CDT (22:45 UTC)
- Expired
- May 31, 1996, 8:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 2 hr
- Issued by
- NWS Topeka, KS
- Area
- Whole counties
County Clay County, KS
The radar
The Topeka radar (KTWX), 89 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:44 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.
The nearest sounding before it
Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 12:00Z, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 137 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
- 344 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -117 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 681 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 24 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 198 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 201 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.6
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KTOP 312249 FFWTOP KSC027-010100- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED FLASH FLOOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 545 PM CDT FRI MAY 31 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TOPEKA HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 800 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS ...CLAY COUNTY RAINFALL ESTIMATES OF TWO TO FOUR INCHES HAVE BEEN REPORTED OVER WEST CENTRAL TO EASTERN CLAY COUNTY SINCE 430 PM. THE CLAY COUNTY SHERIFF REPORTED THAT MANY ROADS HAD WATER OVER THEM. ROAD CREWS WERE SANDBAGGING ROADS TO LIMIT FLOODING. A CAR WAS REPORTED TO HAVE WASHED INTO A DITCH BY THE CLAY COUNTY SHERIFF. ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINS FROM THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO CAUSE FLASH FLOODING ACROSS CLAY COUNTY THIS EVENING. MANY SMALL CREEKS...STREAMS ANDITCHES WILL LIKELY BE OUT OF THEIR BANKS AND FLOODING LOW LYING AND FLOOD PRONE AREAS. DONT DRIVE ACROSS FLOODED ROADS! MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN VEHICLES. MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND IF FLOOD WATERS THREATEN! WOYNICK &
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this flash flood warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, May 31, 12:02 PM CDT, 5 hours 43 minutes before
KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058>059-010500- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 1203 PM CDT FRI MAY 31 1996 STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED ACROSS NORTH-CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST KANSAS FROM MIDAFTERNOON THROUGH THIS EVENING. SEVERE STORMS MAY DEVELOP WITH THE PRIMARY THREAT BEING LARGE HAIL. A SLOW MOVING COLD FRONT WILL BE ENTERING NORTHWEST KANSAS BY THIS EVENING. AHEAD OF THIS FRONT MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR WILL BE IN PLACE READY TO DEVELOP AS STRONG OR POSSIBLY SEVERE STORMS. IN ADDITION TO THE STRONG STORMS...VERY HEAVY RAIN WILL ACCOMPANY SOME OF THE STORMS. SOME LOCALIZED FLOODING IS POSSIBLE ESPECIALLY OVER AREAS ALREADY WET FROM RAINS EARLIER THIS WEEK. KAYS
The office that day
Everything else NWS Topeka, KS issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 31, 4:19 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | TOP | Cloud | 3 hr |
| May 31, 4:51 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Cloud | 39 min |
| May 31, 5:08 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Clay | 52 min |
| May 31, 6:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Clay, Riley | 30 min |
Nearby
Flash Flood Warnings in Kansas, 1996Every flash flood 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.