Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 250, NWS Dodge City, KS

August 20, 1997Meade County, Kansas

NWS Dodge City, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 20, 1997, 6:45 PM CDT for Meade County, Kansas. It was in force for 50 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 20, 1997, 6:45 PM CDT (23:45 UTC)
Expired: Aug 20, 1997, 7:35 PM CDT
In force: 50 min
Issued by: NWS Dodge City, KS
Area: Whole counties

County Meade County, KS

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 68 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:48 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
Aug 20, 6:48 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Meade, 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 12:00Z, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 72 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: 1641 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -81 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1385 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 92 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 113 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KDDC 202345 RRA
SVRDDC

KSC119-210035-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
645 PM CDT WED AUG 20 1997

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  NORTHWESTERN MEADE COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN KANSAS

* UNTIL 735 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  RURAL RESIDENTS OF NORTHWEST MEADE COUNTY

* AT 643 PM CDT...DODGE CITY DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 12 MILES NORTHWEST OF MISSLER MOVING SOUTH AT 15 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.

MCALVOY/NOLLER

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 20, 2:25 PM CDT, 4 hours 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 20, 2:25 PM CDT, 4 hours 20 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
225 PM CDT WED AUG 20 1997

PLENTY OF FORECAST CHALLENGES THIS VERSION.

MOST OF TSRA MOVING INTO OK.  TSRA MOVED ALONG 850 FRONT AS S/W MOVED
THROUGH. STORMS SHOULD PUSH THE SFC BOUNDARY FURTHER WEST THAN CURRENT
MODELS ARE SUGGESTING. CONVECTION CONTINUES TO DEVELOP SOUTH OF DDC. SO
QUESION FOR TONIGHT WILL BE TSRA CHANCES FOR REMAINDER OF CWA.

INSTABILITY AXIS THROUGH DDC-NW.  APPEARS THAT TSRA WILL CONTINUE TO
DEVELOP ALONG OUTFLOW BOUNDARY WEST-SOUTHWEST OF DDC.  ADAP PRODUCTS
SHOW BEST MOISTURE CONVERGANCE ALONG CO-KS BORDER ATTM.  BEST CHANCES
FOR TRSA OVER FOR SOUTH-SOUTHWEST AREAS FOR EARLY TONIGHT.  NEXT S/W
COMES DOWN NW FLOW LATER TONIGHT...SO NORTHERN AREAS MAY NOT SEE TSRA
UNTIL LATE.  MAY PUT HIGHER POPS WEST FOR TONIGHT AND USE LATE WORDING
FOR NORTHEAST-EAST ZONES WITH POSSIBLY SEVERE WORDING. LOOKS LIKE
BOUNDAY MAY HANG AROUND NEXT 48 HOURS.  THIS AND THE FACT THAT SFC FLW
WILL BE SOUTHEAST...DEWPOINTS SHOULD STAY UP. WILL HAVE SOME MENTION OF
POPS IN ALL PERIODS HOWEVER.  WILL MAKE LAST MOMENT DECESION ON
NUMBERS.

TEMPS MAY BE TRICKY.  WITH ESE UPSLOPE FLOW AND DEWPOINTS ABOVE FWC
PROGS...LOWS (EASTERN CWA ANYWAY) MAY STAY ABOVE FWC TEMPS.  WITH FRONT
PUSHED BACK WEST...UPSLOPE FLOW SHOULD OCCUR AND WITH LOTS OF MOISTURE
AROUND...TEMPS SHOULD BE COOLER THAN FWC NUMBERS AND WILL GO CLOSER TO
AVN WHICH MAY BE A BIT WARM AS WELL.  SO...EXPECT SLIGHTY HIGHER
LOWS.

.DDC...NONE

DDC 066/089 066/088 064 322
GCK 064/091 063/089 062 222
EHA 063/092 063/090 062 222
LBL 063/091 064/089 062 222
HYS 064/084 064/087 063 333
P28 068/087 069/091 067 233

REITER

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 20, 12:50 PM CDT, 5 hours 55 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE  DODGE CITY KS
1250 PM CDT WED AUG 20 1997

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

0954 AM    5 E ST. JOHN              KS   1.00 INCH HAIL
08/20/97   STAFFORD

0958 AM    5 E ST. JOHN              KS   1.75 INCH HAIL
08/20/97   STAFFORD                       COVERED GROUND

1023 AM    17 SE LACROSSE            KS   0.75 INCH HAIL
08/20/97   RUSH

1025 AM    14 NNE PRATT              KS   2.00 INCH HAIL
08/20/97   PRATT                          COVERING GROUND

1030 AM    10 NE LARNED              KS   1.00 INCH HAIL
08/20/97   PAWNEE

1030 AM    12 NE PRATT               KS   1.75 INCH HAIL
08/20/97   PRATT

1056 AM    CAIRO                     KS   1.50 INCH HAIL
08/20/97   PRATT                          COVERING GROUND

1103 AM    STAFFORD                  KS   WIND DAMAGE
08/20/97   STAFFORD                       65 TO 70 MPH WINDS
                                          POWER LINES DOWN

1105 AM    9 ESE ST. JOHN            KS   60 MPH WIND GUST
08/20/97   STAFFORD

1113 AM    ZENITH                    KS   60 MPH WIND GUST
08/20/97   STAFFORD

1208 PM    9 E GREENSBURG            KS   0.88 INCH HAIL
08/20/97   KIOWA

LEE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 20, 9:47 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Stafford	48 min
Aug 20, 10:09 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Pawnee, Rush	46 min
Aug 20, 10:17 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Pratt	48 min
Aug 20, 10:32 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Stafford	63 min
Aug 20, 12:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Kiowa	48 min
Aug 20, 12:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Comanche	48 min
Aug 20, 2:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Clark	64 min
Aug 20, 2:37 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Clark	33 min
Aug 20, 3:09 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Clark	46 min
Aug 20, 5:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Gray	63 min
Aug 20, 6:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Gray	47 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.