Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 237, NWS Dodge City, KS

August 15, 1997Pawnee County, Kansas

NWS Dodge City, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 15, 1997, 2:45 AM CDT for Pawnee County, Kansas. It was in force for 30 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
Aug 15, 1997, 2:45 AM CDT (07:45 UTC)
Expired
Aug 15, 1997, 3:15 AM CDT
In force
30 min
Issued by
NWS Dodge City, KS
Area
Whole counties

County Pawnee County, KS

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 79 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 07:47 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Aug 15, 3:00 AM CDTHail 1Sanford, 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

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 00:00Z, 7.8 hours before the alert went out and 74 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, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 1997-08-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 480 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, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 1997-08-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -32 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
480 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-93 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2256 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-32 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-38 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

288 
WUUS1 KDDC 150746 RRA
SVRDDC
KSC145-150815-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
245 AM CDT FRI AUG 15 1997

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  NORTHERN AND CENTRAL PAWNEE COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS

* UNTIL 315 AM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  FRIZELL                    BY 300 AM CDT
  LARNED                     BY 310 AM CDT

* AT 242 AM CDT...DODGE CITY DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM ONE MILE NORTHWEST OF SANFORD MOVING EAST AT 17 MPH.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM...BE PREPARED FOR WINDS IN
EXCESS OF 55 MPH AND HAIL UP TO ONE INCH IN DIAMETER.  IF YOU ARE
CAUGHT OUTSIDE...MOVE TO A STURDY SHELTER IMMEDIATELY AND STAY AWAY
FROM WINDOWS.

KRUSE/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 Aug 15, 2:40 AM CDT, 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 15, 2:40 AM CDT, 5 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
240 AM CDT FRE AUG 15 1997

NICE LIGHTNING SHOW NORTHEAST OF DDC THIS MORNING FROM TSRA ASSOCIATED
WITH PASSING S/W.  SHOULD MOVE OUT OF CWA BY FCST ISSUANCE TIME.  MAIN
CHALLENGE SHOULD BE TEMPS TODAY AND SATURDAY.  NGM/ETA AGGRE ON LOW
LEVEL MOISTURE EAST OF AREA THROUGH 48 HOURS.  700 TEMPS UP TO ABOUT
14C TONIGHT.  NGM/AVN DO NOT INDICATE MUCH IN THE WAY OF A S/W FOR
TONIGHT BUT ETA CURIOUSLY BRINGS WAVE OUT OF SOUTHWEST U.S.(NOT GIVING
IT MUCH WEIGHT).  WILL LIKELY DROP OR KEEP VERLY LOW POPS IN FAR
EASTERN COUNTIES FOR TONIGHT.

ANYWAY...850 GRADIENT SHOULD TIGHTEN TODAY AND SFC WINDS SHOULD TURN SW
THIS MORNING. MODELS BRING SFC TROF EAST TODAY THEN RE-FORM BACK INTO
EASTERN COLORADO AS UPPER FLOW BECOMES MORE WESTERLY. EXPECT TO SEE
BREEZY CONDINTIONS AND LOTS OF DOWNSLOPE WARMING. HIGHS LIKELY TO GO
ABOVE FWC VALUES AND CLOSER TO FAN.  FOR SATURDAY...PROGED 850 TEMPS
SIMILAR TO TODAYS BUT GRADIENT NOT QUITE AS STRONG SO TEMPS MAY BE A
BIT COOLER.

.DDC...NONE

DDC 097/067 095/066 087 0-0
GCK 096/063 096/063 086 000
HYS 095/062 094/062 085 000
EHA 095/063 094/063 085 000
LBL 097/068 096/067 085 010
P28 100/070 100/071 090 010

REITER

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kansas, 1997Every 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.