Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Kansas City, MO

October 8, 1997Atchison County, Kansas

NWS Kansas City, MO issued this tornado warning at Oct 8, 1997, 7:01 PM CDT for Atchison County, Kansas. It was in force for 44 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: Oct 8, 1997, 7:01 PM CDT (00:01 UTC)
Expired: Oct 8, 1997, 7:45 PM CDT
In force: 44 min
Issued by: NWS Kansas City, MO
Area: Whole counties

County Atchison County, KS

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 99 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:05 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
Oct 8, 7:18 PM CDT	Tornado F1	Muscotah, KS	An F1 tornado touched down in Northeast Jackson County then tracked northeast through Western Atchison County south of Route 9 to 2 miles northwest of Muscotah. Spotters then tracked the tornado northward along Highway 159 to 2 miles south of Horton in
Oct 8, 7:54 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 70	Cummings, KS	A trained storm spotter reported a 70 MPH wind gust during a severe thunderstorm at Cummings.

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
Oct 8, 5:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 00:00Z, 0.0 hours before the alert went out and 66 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: 1094 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 526 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 246 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 295 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.6
Supercell composite: 8.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

223 
WFUS1 KMCI 082359 RRA
TORMCI
KSC005-090050-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PLEASANT HILL/KANSAS CITY MO
701 PM CDT WED OCT 8 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
    WESTERN ATCHISON COUNTY - NORTHEAST KANSAS
 
* UNTIL 745 PM CDT CDT

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    HIGHWAY 159 NORTH OF MUSCOTAH BY 715 PM
    RURAL AREAS OF WESTERN ATCHISON COUNTY

* AT 658 PM CDT WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING
  TORNADO NEAR WHITING OR 25 MILES WEST OF ATCHISON KANSAS MOVING
  NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

IN ADDITION TO THE TORNADO THREAT...LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS
ARE LIKELY WITH THIS STORM.

HUDSON

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 8, 7:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Atchison, Doniphan	53 min

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.