Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 52, NWS Kansas City, MO

May 17, 1997Miami County, Kansas

NWS Kansas City, MO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 17, 1997, 8:30 PM CDT for Miami County, Kansas. It was in force for 45 min. 2 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: May 17, 1997, 8:30 PM CDT (01:30 UTC)
Expired: May 17, 1997, 9:15 PM CDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Kansas City, MO
Area: Whole counties

County Miami County, KS

The radar

The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 57 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:29 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 17, 8:35 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 70	Louisburg, KS	Strong winds from the same severe thunderstorm that dropped the large hail near Paola produced damaging winds in the Louisburg area. Winds gusted to 70 MPH in downtown Louisburg and were also reported by a spotter at the intersection of Highways 169 and 58.
May 17, 9:10 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Osawatomie, KS	A severe weather spotter reported golfball-size hail near Osawatomie during a slow moving super cell 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 17, 7:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 00:00Z, 1.5 hours before the alert went out and 85 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: 647 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -131 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2220 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 53 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 290 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 9.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

291 
WUUS1 KMCI 180131 RRA
SVRMCI
KSC121-180215-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PLEASANT HILL/KANSAS CITY MO
830 PM CDT SAT MAY 17 1997

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
    MIAMI COUNTY - EAST CENTRAL KANSAS
 
* UNTIL 915 PM CDT

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    LOUISBURG THROUGH 915 PM
    PAOLA THROUGH 915 PM
    SURROUNDING AREAS

* AT 830 PM WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM FROM NEAR LOUISBURG TO PAOLA MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.
  HAIL UP TO 2 INCHES HAS BEEN REPORTED.

PEOPLE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM CAN EXPECT HAIL UP TO 2 INCHES AND
WIND GUSTS TO 65 MPH

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

BUNTING
 

&

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 May 17, 2:46 PM CDT, 5 hours 44 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 17, 2:46 PM CDT, 5 hours 44 minutes before

NORTHWEST MISSOURI FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PLEASANT HILL/KANSAS CITY MO
245 PM CDT SAT MAY 17 1997

FAIRLY ACTIVE NEXT 36 HRS EXPECTED.  SVR WX THREAT IS FIRST AND
FOREMOST CONCERN.  FIRST SHORT WAVE TROF TO AFFECT FA NOW OVER NW KS
OR SO PER PROFILERS AND WV IMAGERY.  ETA MINORS THIS FEATURE OUT
SLIGHTLY TOWARD 00Z BUT STILL SEE ITS REFLECTION IN 700 & 500 HEIGHTS
BY 06Z WITH 700 VORT CENTERED OVER FAR NW MO.  CONSIDERABLE WAA
CLOUDINESS DVLPG AHD OF FEATURE IN CNTRL NEB/KS.  AT ANY RATE...DEPSITE
WK LOW LVL CONVERGENCE...LOOKS LIKE KS WAVE TO PROVIDE JUST ENUF UPWARD
FORCING TO OVERCOME EVER WEAKENING CAP.  QUICKIE MODIFIED 12Z TOP
SOUNDING USING 87/61 SFC PARCEL YIELDED AT LEAST 2000 J/KG CAPE AND
MINIMAL CAP.  THUS...EXPECTING TSRA TO FIRE PRIOR TO SUNSET WITH SVR A
PSBLTY.

BETTER SVR THREAT LOOKS TO BE TNGT AS MUCH STRONGER ALBERTA TROF DROPS
SE AND GENERATES NICE HEIGHT FALLS ACRS HI PLAINS.  ETA DVLPS 40KT
SWRLY LLJ IN RESPONSE BY MIDNIGHT WHICH BECOMES NEARLY PERPENDICULAR TO
DIFFUSE BUT CERTAIN BOUNDARY CURRENTLY LOCATED ROUGHLY FROM NCNTRL KS
TO SCNTRL MO (WITH ANOTHER BOUNDARY JUST SOUTH OF IA/MO BORDER). RESULT
IS PRETTY STRONG LIFT OF VERY UNSTALBE AIR OVER BOTH BOUNDARIES. ETA
QPF ALSO DEVELOPS CONVECTIVE PCPN ON NOSE OF LLJ IN ERN KS.
THEREFORE...EXPECT WILL GO ABV LOW GUIDANCE POPS...MAYBE INTO LIKELY
CATEGORY.  QUESTION WHETHER OR NOT TO MENTION SVR.  GET PRETTY GOOD
TURNING IN SUB-CLOUD LAYER TNGT...VERY UNSTABLE AIR IN PLACE AND LIFT
FROM SHORT WAVE PLUS HELP FROM BOUNDARY.  HOWEVER...MID-LEVEL WINDS
PRETTY WEAK SO ALTHO SHD BE ABLE TO GET UPDRAFTS SUSTAINED FOR A
REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME...TSRA SHOULD TRANSITION FAIRLY QUICKLY INTO
OUTFLOW DOMINATED CELLS.

JUST READ WELL-WRITTEN SWODY1 WITH UPGRADE FROM SLGT TO MDT RISK AND
THIS PUSHES ME OVER FENCE.  WILL MENTION SVR.

TMRW LOOKS TO BE ACTIVE AS WELL...PENDING LOCATION OF CONVECTIVE
BOUNDARIES OF TONIGHT.  UNLESS CONVECTIVE DEBRIS CLOUDS INHIBIT
HEATING...SHOULD WARM TO LEVELS VERY CLOSE OF THOSE TODAY (XCP POSSIBLY
IN THE NW WITH EARLIER FROPA) GIVEN FCST 850 MB TEMPS.  BELIEVE TSRA
SHD REFIRE FROM JUST SE OF MKC TO IRK LINE ALONG FRONT AND QUICKLY
BECOME SVR.  WILL HOLD OFF THOUGH ON MENTION OF 2ND PERIOD SVR GIVEN
QUESTION OF POSITION OF BOUNDARIES.  WILL ORIENT POPS FROM NW TO
SE...HIEST SE.  TEMPS WILL FOLLOW SIMILARLY.

PROXIMITY OF FRONT TO SERN ZONES WILL FORCE ME TO KEEP POPS IN FOR SUN
NIGHT...WHILE NW ZONES IN STG CAA WILL GO POP-FREE.

SPENT EXCEPTIONALLY LITTLE TIME LOOKING AT RETURN TO COOLER WX ON MON.
GUIDANCE TEMPS LOOK FINE.

MCI BB 065/085 054/066 044 99653

MANION

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 17, 7:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Miami	60 min
May 17, 7:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Johnson	60 min
May 17, 7:54 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	EAX	Miami	36 min
May 17, 8:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Johnson, Leavenworth, Wyandotte	64 min
May 17, 9:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Miami	50 min
May 17, 9:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Linn	31 min
May 17, 9:45 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	EAX	Miami	4 hr
May 17, 10:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Linn	47 min
May 17, 10:32 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	EAX	Linn	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.