Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Dodge City, KS

May 18, 1997Pratt County, Kansas

NWS Dodge City, KS issued this tornado warning at May 18, 1997, 7:27 PM CDT for Pratt County, Kansas. It was in force for 48 min. 6 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: May 18, 1997, 7:27 PM CDT (00:27 UTC)
Expired: May 18, 1997, 8:15 PM CDT
In force: 48 min
Issued by: NWS Dodge City, KS
Area: Whole counties

County Pratt County, KS

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 109 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:29 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
May 18, 7:28 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Pratt, KS
May 18, 7:31 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Pratt, KS
May 18, 7:35 PM CDT	Hail 1	Pratt, KS
May 18, 7:44 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 52	Pratt, KS
May 18, 8:21 PM CDT	Hail 1	Cullison, KS
May 18, 8:25 PM CDT	Hail 1.5	Pratt, 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
May 18, 5:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 00:00Z, 0.5 hours before the alert went out and 103 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: 419 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -81 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2816 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -2 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 94 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

991 
WFUS1 KDDC 190028 RRA
TORDDC
KSC151-190115-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
727 PM CDT SUN MAY 18 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  EASTERN PRATT COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS

* UNTIL 815 PM CDT
 
* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN OVER OPEN COUNTRY.

* AT 724 PM CDT...SPOTTERS REPORTED THE THREAT OF A TORNADO IN THE
  VICINITY OF CAIRO MOVING EAST AT 10 MPH.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS IN A
BASEMENT.  IF A BASEMENT IS NOT AVAILABLE...GO THE AN INTERIOR ROOM
ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE

STOUT/MCAVOY

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 18, 7:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Hamilton	32 min
May 18, 7:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Kearny	65 min
May 18, 7:37 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	DDC	Pratt	4 hr
May 18, 7:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Pratt	59 min
May 18, 8:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Hamilton, Stanton	48 min
May 18, 8:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Finney	50 min
May 18, 8:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Finney, Gray	46 min
May 18, 8:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Kiowa, Pratt	49 min
May 18, 8:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Grant	62 min
May 18, 9:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Gray	31 min
May 18, 9:25 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	DDC	Pratt	4 hr
May 18, 9:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Ford	64 min
May 18, 9:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Haskell, Seward	50 min
May 18, 9:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Kiowa	48 min
May 18, 10:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Meade	60 min
May 18, 10:10 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Ford	50 min
May 18, 10:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Kiowa	62 min
May 18, 11:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Clark	45 min
May 18, 11:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Ford	59 min
May 19, 12:50 AM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	DDC	Pratt	5 hr

Nearby

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