Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 14, NWS Kansas City, MO

March 24, 1997Johnson County, Kansas

NWS Kansas City, MO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 24, 1997, 8:13 PM CST for Johnson County, Kansas. It was in force for 32 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: Mar 24, 1997, 8:13 PM CST (02:13 UTC)
Expired: Mar 24, 1997, 8:45 PM CST
In force: 32 min
Issued by: NWS Kansas City, MO
Area: Whole counties

County Johnson County, KS

The radar

The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 49 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:15 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
Mar 24, 8:23 PM CST	Hail 1	Olathe, 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
Mar 24, 3:30 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 00:00Z, 2.2 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: 853 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -18 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1673 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 48 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 88 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.1
Supercell composite: 1.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KMCI 250213 RRA
SVRMCI
KSC091-250300-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PLEASANT HILL/KANSAS CITY MO
813 PM CST MON MAR 24 1997

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  JOHNSON COUNTY - EAST CENTRAL KANSAS

* UNTIL 845 PM CST
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    EDGERTON
    GARDNER
    OLATHE

* AT 810 PM RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR EDGERTON
  KANSAS MOVING EAST-NORTHEAST AT 35MPH.  MARBLE SIZE HAIL WAS
  REPORTED AT 207TH ST AND SUNFLOWER.

* THE STORM WILL BE NEAR GARDNER AT 820 PM...AND NEAR OLATHE AT 825
  PM. THIS STORM WILL PRODUCE HAIL ONE INCH OR LARGER IN DIAMETER.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.  FOR
YOUR  SAFETY...MOVE INDOORS AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT.  SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND
OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES.

JHV

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 Kansas City, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Mar 24, 2:34 PM CST, 5 hours 39 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 24, 2:34 PM CST, 5 hours 39 minutes before

NORTHWEST MISSOURI FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PLEASANT HILL/KANSAS CITY MO
233 PM CST MON MAR 24 1997

LOOKS LIKE FIRST POTENTIAL SVR WX EVENT OF SEASON SHAPING UP OVR ERN
KS/WRN MO. SFC ANLYS AT 19Z SHWS WRM FNT XTND FM NR FNB TO JUST S OF
IRK AND CD FNT FM ERN SD/ERN NE BACK TO DDC. EAX 88-D AND PROFILER SHW
50 KT + LO LVL JET PUSHING NWRD INTO CWA. AFT MODIFYING CRTN AM SNDG TO
ACCOUNT FOR INCREASED LOW LVL JET...0-3 KM HELICITY VALUES DROPPED TO
MID 80S. REAL THREAT FOR TORNADIC ACTIVITY NOW APPRS TO BE INVOF OF
DVLPG SFC LO AND BASED ON CURRENT PRES ANLYS THAT WOULD BE ALG TOP STJ
3OI CORRIDOR. HOWEVER WITH STEEP LAPSE RATES AND STG MSTR ADVT/CNVGNC
THINK THAT LARGE HAIL STILL DECENT POSSIBILITY OVR GOOD PORTION OF CWA.
VIS LOOP SHWS DVLPG CU IN AREA OF LOWERING LI'S SO THINKING ATTM IS FOR
TSTMS TO BEGIN FIRING AHD OF CD FNT IN 2200-0000 UTC TIME PRD. WILL NOT
MAKE SGFNT CHNGS TO FCT FOR TNT KEEPING HIGHER POPS IN TACT AND WILL
TAILOR WORDING TWDS POTENTIALLY SVR WX. ANTICIPATE WW FM SPC DURING
NEXT CPL OF HRS SO WILL HOLD WRK ZNS TILL LAST MINUTE.

MODELS ALL OFFERING DIFFERENT SOLNS THIS LATEST RUN. WV LOOP SHWS JET
DIGGING SWRD FM GRT BASIN AREA INTO FOUR CORNERS AND WITH BLDG HGTS
UPSTREAM OVER BRITTISH COLUMBIA PREFER AVN SOLN WITH CLOSED LO DVLPG
OVR NRN AZ. BELIEVE THAT NGM SHEARS UPPR LO TO NE TOO FAST AND ETA
CLOSING SW LO OFF TOO FAR S. THEREFORE WILL NOT BUY INTO FAST CLRG FOR
TUE AND WILL LEAVE CLDS AND CRNT POPS IN TACT. WILL GO WITH CLRG FOR
TUE NITE AS FCST FRONTOGENETIC FORCING GRADIENT MVS EWRD. PREFER
SLIGHTLY COOLER FAN GUIDANCE FOR TUE THRU WED TIME PRD.

MCI WU 040/047 033/060 043 99+30

BODNER

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Mar 24, 7:49 PM CST, 24 minutes before

KSZ025-102-MOZ005-006-011>015-020-021-250255-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PLEASANT HILL/KANSAS CITY MO
749 PM CST MON MAR 24 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PLEASANT HILL MISSOURI HAS CANCELLED
THE TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI.  THE TORNADO
WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...

IN MISSOURI...
    HOLT...ANDREW...GENTRY...HARRISON...MERCER...DEKALB...DAVIESS
    AND BUCHANAN

IN KANSAS...
    DONIPHAN AND ATCHISON

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE ALONG A LINE WHICH EXTENDS ACROSS THE
KANSAS CITY METROPOLITAN AREA TO NEAR LINNEUS MISSOURI.  THE TORNADO
WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR MUCH OF WEST CENTRAL MISSOURI UNTI P 9M.

BROWNING

Special weather statement, Mar 24, 7:50 PM CST, 23 minutes before

KSZ025-102-MOZ005-006-011>015-020-021-250255-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PLEASANT HILL/KANSAS CITY MO
749 PM CST MON MAR 24 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PLEASANT HILL MISSOURI HAS CANCELLED
THE TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHWEST MISSOURI.  THE TORNADO
WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...

IN MISSOURI...
    HOLT...ANDREW...GENTRY...HARRISON...MERCER...DEKALB...DAVIESS
    AND BUCHANAN

IN KANSAS...
    DONIPHAN AND ATCHISON

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE ALONG A LINE WHICH EXTENDS ACROSS THE
KANSAS CITY METROPOLITAN AREA TO NEAR LINNEUS MISSOURI.  THE TORNADO
WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR MUCH OF WEST CENTRAL MISSOURI UNTI P 9M.

BROWNING

The office that day

Everything else NWS Kansas City, MO issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 24, 6:17 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Leavenworth, Wyandotte	63 min
Mar 24, 6:48 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Johnson	62 min
Mar 24, 7:11 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Miami	44 min
Mar 24, 8:04 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	EAX	Johnson	4 hr
Mar 24, 8:17 PM CST	Flash Flood Warning	EAX	Johnson, Wyandotte	4 hr

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.