Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1996
Tornado Warning 13, NWS Topeka, KS
NWS Topeka, KS issued this tornado warning at May 26, 1996, 4:39 PM CDT for Ottawa County, Kansas. It was in force for 36 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 26, 1996, 4:39 PM CDT (21:39 UTC)
- Expired
- May 26, 1996, 5:15 PM CDT
- In force
- 36 min
- Issued by
- NWS Topeka, KS
- Area
- Whole counties
County Ottawa County, KS
The radar
The Topeka radar (KTWX), 123 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:39 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 26, 5:01 PM CDT | Hail 0.75 | Vine Creek, 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, 9.7 hours before the alert went out and 174 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
- 28 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -196 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 590 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 61 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 308 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 308 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KTOP 262139 TORTOP KSC143-262215- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 439 PM CDT SUN MAY 26 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TOPEKA HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 515 PM CDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS ...EASTERN OTTAWA COUNTY AT 435 PM...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING TORNADO 30 MILES SOUTH OF CONCORDIA...ABOUT 5 MILES SOUTHEAST OF MINNEAPOLIS...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH. WELLS AND VINE CREEK ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM. GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR!
The office that day
Everything else NWS Topeka, KS issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 26, 2:13 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Ottawa | 62 min |
| May 26, 3:05 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Clay, Dickinson | 40 min |
| May 26, 3:45 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Clay, Geary, Riley | 45 min |
| May 26, 3:45 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Dickinson | 45 min |
| May 26, 4:41 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Geary | 34 min |
| May 26, 4:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Ottawa | 36 min |
| May 26, 5:50 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Pottawatomie, Riley | 40 min |
| May 26, 6:09 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Marshall, Washington | 36 min |
| May 26, 6:19 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | TOP | Riley | 116 min |
| May 26, 6:49 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | TOP | Osage, Shawnee | 3 hr |
| May 26, 6:49 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | TOP | Jackson, Jefferson | 3 hr |
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.