Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 71, NWS Topeka, KS

May 31, 1996Clay County, Riley County, Kansas

NWS Topeka, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 31, 1996, 6:00 PM CDT for Clay County, Riley County, Kansas. It was in force for 30 min. 2 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 31, 1996, 6:00 PM CDT (23:00 UTC)
Expired: May 31, 1996, 6:30 PM CDT
In force: 30 min
Issued by: NWS Topeka, KS
Area: Whole counties

Counties Clay County, KS, Riley County, KS

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 72 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:01 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, 6:06 PM CDT	Hail 0.88	Wakefield, KS
May 31, 6:08 PM CDT	Hail 1	Bala, 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, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 119 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: 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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KTOP 312300
SVRTOP
KSC027-161-312330-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
600 PM CDT FRI MAY 31 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TOPEKA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  630 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS
 
   ...EASTERN CLAY COUNTY
 
IN NORTHEAST KANSAS
 
   ...WESTERN RILEY COUNTY
 
AT 555 PM RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 10 MILES SOUTHEAST OF
CLAY CENTER NEAR WAKEFIELD. THE STORM WAS MOVING SLOWLY EAST AT 5 TO 10
MPH AND WILL AFFECT MILFORD LAKE TO NEAR BALA
 
GO INSIDE A STURDY BUILDING AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS!  A
TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT.  SEVVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN PRODUCE
TORNADOES.
 
VERY HEAVY RAIN CAN ALSO BE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM.
 
GDP/LWS

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, 5 hours 58 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, 5:45 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TOP	Clay	2 hr

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.