Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 40, NWS Kansas City, MO
NWS Kansas City, MO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 7, 1997, 9:21 PM CDT for Linn County, Kansas. It was in force for 39 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 7, 1997, 9:21 PM CDT (02:21 UTC)
- Expired
- May 7, 1997, 10:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 39 min
- Issued by
- NWS Kansas City, MO
- Area
- Whole counties
County Linn County, KS
The radar
The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 83 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:21 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 7, 9:40 PM CDT | Hail 1 | Centerville, KS | The Linn County Sheriff's office reported golfball-size hail in Centerville during a severe thunderstorm. |
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 7, 6:45 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 00:00Z, 2.4 hours before the alert went out and 112 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1465 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -2 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 785 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 208 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 298 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.9
- Supercell composite
- 9.7
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
TTAA00 KMCI 080221 RRA
SVRMCI
KSC107-080300-
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PLEASANT HILL/KANSAS CITY MO
921 PM CDT WED MAY 7 1997
* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
LINN COUNTY - EAST CENTRAL KANSAS
* UNTIL 1000 PM CDT
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
PARKER BY 935 PM
BLUE MOUND BY 935 PM
LA CYGNE BY 1000 PM
MOUND CITY BY 945 PM
* AT AT 921 PM WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM NEAR GARNETT MOVING EAST AT 40 MPH.
PEOPLE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM CAN EXPECT WIND GUSTS TO 65 MPH AND
HAIL UP TO ONE INCH 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.
MAXIMUKWhat 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 May 7, 2:35 PM CDT, 6 hours 46 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 7, 2:35 PM CDT, 6 hours 46 minutes before
NORTHWEST MISSOURI FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PLEASANT HILL/KANSAS CITY MO 235 PM CDT WED MAY 7 1997 PRETTY DRAMATIC MOISTURE INCRS SINCE THIS AM...AS WM FRONT HAS LIFTED NEWD. SIGNIFICANT DESTABILIZATION HAS RESULTED...BUT WERE WAITING ON THE LIFT. COLD FRONT TRYING TO INITIATE TSRA ACTIVITY TO OUR W AND NW...WHICH...ONCE IT GETS GOING...SHOULD HAVE NO PROBLEM ROLLING THRU FA IN 22Z-05Z TIME FRAME. PRETTY UNSTABLE...BUT MID LEVEL WINDS A BIT WEAK AND REAL GOOD SHEAR SORT OF LACKING. CURRENT ZONES ALREADY HAVE SVR MENTIONED FOR ENTIRE CWA AND WILL LEAVE AS SUCH GIVEN INSTBY. HOWEVER...AM A LITTLE CONCERNED THAT TSRA WILL HAVE A HARD TIME WORKING EASTWARD WITH FRONT NOT MOVING THAT QUICKLY AND MID-LEVEL WINDS SO WEAK. NGM ABOUT 3-5 HRS FASTER WITH FROPA THAN ETA. PREFER ETA SOLN GIVEN LACK OF GOOD PRESS RISES BEHIND FRONT AND UPR WAVE HANGING BACK UNTIL 12Z. THEREFORE...FIGURE WILL STAY ABV GUIDANCE TEMPS TNGT. PRETTY RAPID DRYING OF AMS BEHIND FRONT FOR THU. SHOULD SEE QUITE A BIT OF SUN TMRW...SO WILL HAVE TO BALANCE STRONG MAY SUN WITH MDT CAA. FAN GUIDANCE LOOKS A LITTLE COOL IF WE MIX OUT TO 850 MB TMRW...FWC CLOSER. EITHER WAY THO...WILL PROBABLY HAVE TO TRIM CURRENT HIGHS A BIT. DESPITE CLR SKIES FOR THU NIGHT...DOESNT LOOK LIKE WINDS WILL DROP OFF TO NOTHING WITH SFC RIDGE TO W. THEREFORE...THINK GUIDANCE LOOKS A LITTLE COOL. FRI SHD BE REALLY NICE...THO MAYBE STILL A BIT BLO NORM AS SFC RIDGE MOVES OVHD. USING AVN 850 TEMPS...A BLEND OF FAN AND FWC SEEMS TO BE IN ORDER. MCI BU 054/067 044/069 045 99610 JM
In the hours before
Special weather statement, May 7, 6:57 PM CDT, 2 hours 24 minutes before
MOZ001-080100- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PLEASANT HILL/KANSAS CITY MO 657 PM CDT WED MAY 7 1997 THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH THAT WAS IN EFFECT FOR ATCHISON COUNTY MISSOURI EXPIRES AT 7 PM. THE THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER HAS MOVED TO THE SOUTH AND EAST OF THE AREA. JM
The office that day
Everything else NWS Kansas City, MO issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 7, 7:19 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | EAX | Doniphan | 2 hr |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kansas, 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.