Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 23, NWS Dodge City, KS

August 20, 1997Clark County, Kansas

NWS Dodge City, KS issued this tornado warning at Aug 20, 1997, 2:37 PM CDT for Clark County, Kansas. It was in force for 33 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 20, 1997, 2:37 PM CDT (19:37 UTC)
Expired: Aug 20, 1997, 3:10 PM CDT
In force: 33 min
Issued by: NWS Dodge City, KS
Area: Whole counties

County Clark County, KS

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 60 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:36 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, 2:43 PM CDT	Hail 4.5	Minneola, KS	Nearly every window in the small community were broken with siding destroyed on many homes. Cars received considerable damage too. Shingles were also torn off. Skylights broken at the school.
Aug 20, 2:47 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Minneola, KS
Aug 20, 3:10 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Minneola, 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, 7.6 hours before the alert went out and 60 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 201937 RRA
TORDDC
KSC025-202010-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
237 PM CDT WED AUG 20 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  NORTHERN CLARK COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN KANSAS

* UNTIL 310 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  RURAL RESIDENTS OF NORTHERN CLARK COUNTY SOUTHWEST OF MINNEOLA

* AT 235 PM CDT...DODGE CITY DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING
  TORNADO 2 MILES SOUTHWEST OF MINNEOLA MOVING WEST AT ONLY 5 M,PH.

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

HUTTON/MCAVOY

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, 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
Aug 20, 6:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Meade	50 min

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.