Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 69, NWS Topeka, KS
NWS Topeka, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 31, 1996, 4:51 PM CDT for Cloud County, Kansas. It was in force for 39 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, 4:51 PM CDT (21:51 UTC)
- Expired
- May 31, 1996, 5:30 PM CDT
- In force
- 39 min
- Issued by
- NWS Topeka, KS
- Area
- Whole counties
County Cloud County, KS
The radar
The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 115 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:51 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 31, 5:05 PM CDT | Hail 1.75 | Miltonvale, 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
Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 12:00Z, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 181 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
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.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, May 31, 12:02 PM CDT, 4 hours 49 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, 5:08 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Clay | 52 min |
| May 31, 5:45 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | TOP | Clay | 2 hr |
| May 31, 6:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Clay, Riley | 30 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kansas, 1996Every 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.