Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 173, NWS Dodge City, KS

June 26, 1997Seward County, Kansas

NWS Dodge City, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 26, 1997, 12:26 AM CDT for Seward County, Kansas. It was in force for 34 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: Jun 26, 1997, 12:26 AM CDT (05:26 UTC)
Expired: Jun 26, 1997, 1:00 AM CDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Dodge City, KS
Area: Whole counties

County Seward County, KS

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 100 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:28 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
Jun 26, 12:31 AM CDT	Hail 0.75	Liberal, KS
Jun 26, 12:35 AM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 53	Liberal, 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jun 25, 10:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	4 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 00:00Z, 5.4 hours before the alert went out and 106 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: 1043 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -44 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1727 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 17 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 148 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KDDC 260526 RRA
SVRDDC
KSC175-260600-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
1226 AM CDT THU JUN 26 1997

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  SOUTHERN SEWARD COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN KANSAS

* UNTIL 100 AM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  LIBERAL                      BY 1230 AM CDT

* AT 1224 AM CDT...DODGE CITY DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 1 MILE WEST OF LIBERAL MOVING EAST AT 10 MPH.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM.  IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH...EXPECT WINDS OF
75 MPH OR GREATER...HAIL LARGER THAN ONE INCH IN DIAMETER AND
TORRENTIAL RAIN.  SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY AND STAY AWAY FROM
WINDOWS.  HEAVY RAIN CAN FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY.  YOU SHOULD NEVER TRY
TO CROSS WATER COVERED ROADS.

PARKIN/REITER

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.

NWS Dodge City, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jun 25, 2:39 PM CDT, 9 hours 47 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 25, 2:39 PM CDT, 9 hours 47 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
239 PM CDT WED JUN 25 1997

...FORECAST CONCERNS THIS CYCLE ARE CHANCES FOR CONVECTION
LATE TONIGHT AND AGAIN THU EVENING...AND HIGHS ON FRIDAY...

TSRA ALREADY BEGINNING TO FIRE ALONG THE LEE SLOPES OF THE ROCKIES AS
WELL AS OVER FAR NW NEBRASKA. THE QUESTION FOR WRN KS IS JUST HOW
FAR SOUTH AND EAST IT WILL GET. H5 S/W PASSING ACROSS THE NRN US AND
ITS ATTENDING JET MAX RESPONSIBLE FOR NICE H5-H3 DIVERGENCE OVER
SRN NE AND FAR NRN NEB LATE TONIGHT...THOUGH THE MAX PULLS ACROSS
THE GREAT LAKES BY TMRW MORNING LEAVING US WITH NO UPPER LEVEL
SUPPORT.

THERE IS A VERY WELL DEFINED CYCLONIC CONVERGENCE ZONE OVER NE
COLORADO ATTM WHERE SVR STORMS WILL CERTAINLY FIRE IN THE NEAR
FUTURE. IF THERE WERE ANY KIND OF LOW LEVEL JET THIS CONVECTION
WOULD CERTAINLY PROPAGATE ACROSS WRN KS BY LATE TONIGHT. HOWEVER
WE LOOK TO REALLY BE LACKING MUCH LL FLOW TONIGHT. STORMS WILL
LIKELY MOVE ESE INTO BEST LL MOISTURE INSTEAD...AND THEN MAYBE
FOLLOW ALONG WEAK FRONTAL BOUNDARY AS IT DROPS ACROSS US BY 12Z OR
SO. THUS WILL GO WITH SLIGHTLY HIGHER POPS N AND W..THOUGH NOT AS
HIGH AS I USUALLY WOULD IF EXPECTING A GOOD MCS. MOS LOWS LOOK FINE.

EXPECT SOME LINGERING TRSA AND CLOUDS WITH WEAK FRONT TMRW
MORNING...WITH SKIES CLEARING UP IN THE AFTN. ONCE AGAIN MOISTURE
SHOULD POOL IN ERN CO...MAYBE FURTHER NORTH TMRW...WITH LATE DAY
CONVECTION AGAIN DEVELOPING NE/CO/WY BORDER. POPS TMRW REALLY
REFLECT POSSIBLE MORNING RAINS. HIGHS JUST A COUPLE DEGREES BELOW
MOS TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT VERY WET BOUNDARY LAYER AND CONVECTIVE
DEBRIS.

FORCING NOT AS GOOD TMRW NIGHT...BUT LL JET WILL BE STRONGER WHICH
WILL HELP STORMS PROPAGATE SE DESPITE LACK OF UPPER SUPPORT. HARD
TO SAY WHAT KIND OF H5 SUPPORT THERE WILL BE. ETA SHOWS
ANOTHER SUBTROPICAL VORT WHICH NEITHER THE AVN/NGM HAVE. ETA
HAS HIT A FEW OF THESE LATELY WHICH GIVES ME A LITTLE MORE
CONFIDENCE IN 40 POPS WRN HALF CWA THU NIGHT. AFTER COORD WITH
ICT WILL CUT BACK TO 20 POPS SE HALF. MOS LOWS IMPECCABLE.

ON FRIDAY WE SHOULD WARM BACK UP WITH S TO SW FLOW AT THE SFC.
MOS TEMPS LOOK PRETTY GOOD...THOUGH I/M A LITTLE WORRIED THAT VERY
MOIST LOW LEVELS COULD LEAD TO CU MERGING INTO AC DECK UNDER H7 LID
WHICH MIGHT REALLY KEEP TEMPS DOWN. HARD TO SEE THOSE COMING AND
WILL GO WITH WARM-UP. THINK THAT TSRA AGAIN A GOOD BET...BUT NOT
UNTIL VERY LATE. AT THIS POINT AM THINKING OF KEEPING IT OUT OF
ZONES FOR FRIDAY.

DDC BB 062/087 065/090 068 14432
GCK BB 061/088 064/091 067 14524
EHA BB 060/090 062/093 065 14524
LBL BB 061/088 064/090 066 14433
HYS BB 063/086 063/092 068 14434
P28 EB 067/092 068/093 070 14222

MCAVOY

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jun 25, 8:38 PM CDT, 3 hours 48 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  DODGE CITY KS
838 PM CDT WED JUN 25 1997

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0802 PM    HUGOTON                   KS   0.75 INCH HAIL
06/25/97   STEVENS

MB

Local storm report, Jun 25, 8:40 PM CDT, 3 hours 46 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  DODGE CITY KS
838 PM CDT WED JUN 25 1997

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0802 PM    HUGOTON                   KS   0.75 INCH HAIL
06/25/97   STEVENS

MB

The office that day

Everything else NWS Dodge City, KS issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 25, 10:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Pratt, Stafford	62 min
Jun 25, 10:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Kiowa	62 min
Jun 25, 11:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Finney, Gray	63 min
Jun 25, 11:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Barber	63 min
Jun 25, 11:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Stevens	47 min
Jun 25, 11:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Ford	49 min
Jun 26, 12:24 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Gray	46 min
Jun 26, 12:47 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Ford	63 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kansas, 1997 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1997

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.