Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 8, NWS Dodge City, KS

May 25, 1997Ellis County, Kansas

NWS Dodge City, KS issued this tornado warning at May 25, 1997, 4:45 PM CDT for Ellis 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: May 25, 1997, 4:45 PM CDT (21:45 UTC)
Expired: May 25, 1997, 5:15 PM CDT
In force: 30 min
Issued by: NWS Dodge City, KS
Area: Whole counties

County Ellis County, KS

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 140 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:47 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

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 25, 5:17 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Hays, 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 25, 3:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 12:00Z, 9.8 hours before the alert went out and 137 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: 313 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -166 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1225 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 90 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 88 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.

812 
WFUS1 KDDC 252147 RRA
TORDDC
KSC051-252215-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
445 PM CDT SUN MAY 25 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  ELLIS COUNTY IN CENTRAL KANSAS

* UNTIL 515 PM CDT
 
* AT 442 PM CDT...DODGE CITY DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING
  TORNADO 9 MILES NORTHWEST OF YOCEMENTO OR 5 MILES NORTH OF ELLIS
  MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

THE TORNADO SHOULD BE NEAR HAYS BY 510 PM CDT.*

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

KRUSE/CICCONE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 24, 7:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Finney	31 min
May 24, 7:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Scott	35 min
May 24, 8:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Ford	62 min
May 24, 9:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Clark, Meade	32 min
May 24, 9:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Ford	33 min
May 25, 4:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Trego	61 min
May 25, 4:19 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Trego	31 min
May 25, 4:31 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Finney	29 min
May 25, 4:36 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Lane	29 min
May 25, 4:54 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Trego	46 min
May 25, 5:16 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Ellis	34 min
May 25, 5:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Ellis	47 min
May 25, 5:53 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Ellis	32 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.