Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 18, NWS Dodge City, KS

August 13, 1997Hamilton County, Kansas

NWS Dodge City, KS issued this tornado warning at Aug 13, 1997, 3:55 PM MDT for Hamilton County, Kansas. It was in force for 35 min. 3 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
Aug 13, 1997, 3:55 PM MDT (21:55 UTC)
Expired
Aug 13, 1997, 4:30 PM MDT
In force
35 min
Issued by
NWS Dodge City, KS
Area
Whole counties

County Hamilton County, KS

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 152 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:56 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 13, 4:10 PM MDTHail 0.75Coolidge, KS
Aug 13, 4:25 PM MDTHail 0.75Syracuse, KS
Aug 13, 4:30 PM MDTHail 1.75Syracuse, 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, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 168 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 12:00Z on 1997-08-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 45 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 12:00Z on 1997-08-13The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -12 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
45 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-158 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
971 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-12 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
52 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KDDC 132156 RRA
TORDDC
KSC075-132230-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
455 PM CDT WED AUG 13 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  SOUTHWESTERN HAMILTON COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN KANSAS

* UNTIL 430 PM MDT (530 PM CDT)
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  RURAL RESIDENTS OF SOUTHWEST HAMILTON COUNTY

* AT 354 PM MDT...DODGE CITY DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING
  TORNADO 9 MILES SOUTH OF COOLIDGE MOVING SOUTH AT 15 MPH.

GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR!

D.STEINMETZ/MCAVOY

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 13, 3:12 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCHamilton33 min
Aug 13, 3:45 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCHamilton30 min
Aug 13, 4:28 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCHamilton32 min
Aug 13, 4:41 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningDDCHamilton3 hr
Aug 13, 5:01 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCStanton29 min
Aug 13, 5:26 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCStanton49 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Kansas, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes 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.