Alert archive / Missouri / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 18, NWS Kansas City, MO

April 18, 1997Lafayette County, Missouri

NWS Kansas City, MO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 18, 1997, 9:55 PM CDT for Lafayette County, Missouri. It was in force for 35 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Apr 18, 1997, 9:55 PM CDT (02:55 UTC)
Expired
Apr 18, 1997, 10:30 PM CDT
In force
35 min
Issued by
NWS Kansas City, MO
Area
Whole counties

County Lafayette County, MO

The radar

The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 50 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:58 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 00:00Z, 2.9 hours before the alert went out and 160 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, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 1997-04-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 445 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, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 1997-04-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 45 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
445 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-13 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3303 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
45 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
132 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
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 190255 RRA
SVRMCI
MOC107-190330-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PLEASANT HILL/KANSAS CITY MO
955 PM CDT FRI APR 18 1997

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  LAFAYETTE COUNTY - WEST CENTRAL MISSOURI

* UNTIL 1030 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    LEXINGTON
    HIGGINSVILLE

* AT 954 PM RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 10 MILES NORTHWEST
OF LEXINGTON MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

* THE STORM WILL BE NEAR LEXINGTON AT 1000 PM AND HIGGINSVILLE AT
1010.  THIS STORM WILL PRODUCE HAIL TO ONE INCH IN DIAMETER AND
WIND GUSTS TO 60 MPH.

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



MANION

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 Apr 18, 2:54 PM CDT, 7 hours 1 minute earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 18, 2:54 PM CDT, 7 hours 1 minute before
NORTHWEST MISSOURI FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PLEASANT HILL/KANSAS CITY MO
254 PM CDT FRI APR 18 1997

CONVECTIVE POTENTIAL FOR TONIGHT MAIN CONCERN FOR SHORT TERM. IN
THE LONGER TERM FORECAST PROBLEMS FOCUS ON NEXT WAVE RIDING DOWN IN
NORTHWEST FLOW SATURDAY NIGHT INTO SUNDAY. NOSE OF HIGHER SURFACE
DEWPOINTS PUNCHING UP INTO SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA THIS AFTERNOON. THIS
COMBINED WITH BOUNDARY IN VICINITY AND GOOD DIURNAL HEATING SHOULD
LEAD TO SCATTERED -TSRA DEVELOPMENT ACROSS SOUTHEAST 2/3 OF CWA
EARLY THIS EVENING. SOME CU/TCU ALREADY NOTED ON SATELLITE IMAGERY
OUT OVER NORTHWEST/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS ALONG BOUNDARY.

FRONT MAKES IT THROUGH CWA BY MIDNIGHT...SO WOULD EXPECT ANY
PRECIPITATION THREAT TO BE OVER AFTER THIS EVENING. AIR NOT REALLY
THAT COOL BEHIND BOUNDARY SO TEMPERATURES SHOULD NOT DROP OFF TOO
MUCH TONIGHT INTO TOMORROW. MODELS IN DECENT AGREEMENT RETURNING
MOISTURE TO AREA ON SATURDAY NIGHT/SUNDAY AS NEXT SYSTEM SPINS UP
OVER HIGH PLAINS. MODELS SEEM TO BE MORE AGGRESSIVE WITH
PRECIPITATION...ESPECIALLY NGM...THAN WITH BOUNDARY PUSHING THROUGH
THIS EVENING. IN ADDITION...H8-H7 LAYER MEAN VERTICAL VELOCITY AND
H8-H7 Q-VECTOR CONVERGENCE MOVE TOWARDS/ACROSS AREA SATURDAY
NIGHT/SUNDAY.

WILL NOT STRAY TOO FAR FROM GUIDANCE NUMBERS.

MCI BT 048/067 046/063 045 99414

MJM

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 18, 9:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAXCooper31 min
Apr 18, 10:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAXHoward29 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Missouri, 1997Every 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.