Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Kansas City, MO

May 17, 1997Miami County, Kansas

NWS Kansas City, MO issued this tornado warning at May 17, 1997, 7:54 PM CDT for Miami County, Kansas. It was in force for 36 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 17, 1997, 7:54 PM CDT (00:54 UTC)
Expired: May 17, 1997, 8:30 PM CDT
In force: 36 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 00:54 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.

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, 0.9 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.

032 
WFUS1 KMCI 180055 RRA
TORMCI
KSC121-180130-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PLEASANT HILL/KANSAS CITY MO
754 PM CDT SAT MAY 17 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
    MIAMI COUNTY - EAST CENTRAL KANSAS
 
* UNTIL 830 PM CDT

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    FONTANA BY 805 PM
    JINGO BY 810 PM

* AT 754 PM WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING
  TORNADO 5 MILES NORTH OF FONTANA OR JUST SOUTHEAST OF PAOLA MOVING
  SOUTHEAST 25 MPH.

WHEN DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR INDICATES A DEVELOPING TORNADO...IT IS
DETECTING A STRONG ROTATION WITHIN THE STORM. THE STORM MAY NOT BE
PRODUCING A TORNADO AT THE MOMENT...BUT IS EXPECTED TO DURING THE
WARNING PERIOD. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM...TAKE COVER
IMMEDIATELY.

BUNTING

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, 8:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Miami	45 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

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.