Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 19, NWS Topeka, KS

July 20, 1996Nemaha County, Kansas

NWS Topeka, KS issued this tornado warning at Jul 20, 1996, 5:12 PM CDT for Nemaha County, Kansas. It was in force for 33 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jul 20, 1996, 5:12 PM CDT (22:12 UTC)
Expired
Jul 20, 1996, 5:45 PM CDT
In force
33 min
Issued by
NWS Topeka, KS
Area
Whole counties

County Nemaha County, KS

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 90 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:15 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, 10.2 hours before the alert went out and 93 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 1996-07-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 975 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 1996-07-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 121 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
975 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-85 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
627 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
121 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
87 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
3.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KTOP 202213
TORTOP
KSC131-202245-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
512 PM CDT SAT JUL 20 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TOPEKA HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  545 PM CDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN NORTHEAST KANSAS
 
   ...SOUTHERN NEMAHA COUNTY
 
AT 510 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO 30 MILES
SOUTHWEST OF HIAWATHA OR 5 MILES SOUTH OF CORNING. THE STORM WITH THE
POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS MOVING TO THE EAST AT 20 MILES AN HOUR. THIS STORM
WILL MOVE THROUGH MAINLY OPEN COUNTRY UNTIL IT REACHES BANCROFT WHICH
SHOULD BE AROUND 530 PM...AND THEN TO NEAR WETMORE BY 540 PM.
 
THE POTTAWATOMIE SHERIFF REPORTED A BRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN FROM THIS
STORM ABOUT 9 MILES NORTH OF ONAGA SHORTLY AFTER 5 PM.
 
GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR!
 
ABANDON MOBILE HOMES!  GO IN A NEARBY STURDY BUILDING!  AS A LAST
RESORT LIE FLAT IN A DITCH AND COVER YOUR HEAD!
 
 
 
&

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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.