Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 36, NWS Goodland, KS

May 25, 1997Sheridan County, Kansas

NWS Goodland, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 25, 1997, 5:15 PM CDT for Sheridan County, Kansas. It was in force for 50 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 25, 1997, 5:15 PM CDT (22:15 UTC)
Expired: May 25, 1997, 6:05 PM CDT
In force: 50 min
Issued by: NWS Goodland, KS
Area: Whole counties

County Sheridan County, KS

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 108 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:16 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 25, 5:16 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Hoxie, KS

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 25, 3:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 12:00Z, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 182 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: 313 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -166 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1225 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 90 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 88 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

009 
WUUS1 KGLD 252214 RRA
SVRGLD
KSC179-252305-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
415 PM MDT SUN MAY 25 1997

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEASTERN SHERIDAN COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN
KANSAS

* UNTIL 605 PM CDT (505 PM MDT)
 
* TAKE COVER IF YOU ARE IN THE WARNED AREA.

* AT 516 PM CDT...GOODLAND DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 8 MILES NORTHWEST OF QUINTER MOVING EAST AT 15 MPH.

GO INSIDE A STURDY BUILDING AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS A TORNADO
WATCH IS IN EFFECT. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN PRODUCE TORNADOES.

STAVISH/TURNER

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 Goodland, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 25, 4:18 PM CDT, 57 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 25, 4:18 PM CDT, 57 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORR TO WORDING IN LINE 8
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
243 PM MDT (343 PM CDT) SUN MAY 25 1997

PESSIMISTIC FORECAST IN THE MAKING WITH ALL MODELS POINTING TOWARDS
CLOUDS EVEN OUT TO TUESDAY AS COOLER AIR SURGES BEHIND SFC LOW.
QPFSRD VEY HELPFUL IN LATER PERIODS FOR LOCKING ME INTO
COOL AND DAMP PATTERN. DIDNT DEVIATE FROM POP GUIDANCE MUCH ALTHO
TEMPS FOR HLC MEMORIAL DAY...FWC SAYS 71... IS PROBABLY WAY TOO
HIGH. THERE DIDNT SEEM TO BE ANY INDICATION THAT NORTH OF I-70
THE CLOUD COVER WILL BREAK EXCEPT FOR A BRIEF PERIOD TONITE. AND
WITH WET GROUND AROUND...FOG SHOULD SET UP IN LIGHT WINDS. SO
PERSISTENCE ON TEMPS STILL THE RULE THIS PACKAGE.

...KS ZNS 14-16...29 IN WW 319 TIL 03Z

GLD 052/060/049/060 4673  HLC 053/062/050/061 5673
CBK 054/061/051/061 5673  MCK 051/059/046/060 5673
TRB 051/065/050/062 5673  ITR 049/060/048/060 5674
VOJTESAK

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 25, 3:12 PM CDT, 2 hours 3 minutes before

KSZ014>016-029-260315-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
212 PM MDT SUN MAY 25 1997

...A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THOMAS...SHERIDAN...GRAHAM AND
GOVE COUNTIES OF NORTHWEST KANSAS UNTIL 10 PM CDT...

THE STORMS PREDICTION CENTER IN NORMAN OKLAHOMA HAS ISSUED A TORNADO
WATCH FOR THOMAS...SHERIDAN...GRAHAM AND GOVE COUNTIES OF NORTHWEST
KANSAS UNTIL 10 PM CDT. AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE IS EXPECTED TO
MOVE OUT OF COLORADO DURING THE AFTERNOON WHICH WILL HELP DEVELOP
THUNDERSTORMS OVER NORTHWEST KANSAS. FURTHERMORE...A STATIONARY
FRONT REMAINS DRAPED OVER CENTRAL KANSAS FROM TOPEKA TO JUST NORTH
OF GARDEN CITY WHERE A SURFACE LOW PRESSURE CENTER IS LOCATED. LATEST
WIND PROFILER AND UPPER AIR DATA INDICATE THAT TORNADO DEVELOPMENT IS
POSSIBLE IN THESE COUNTIES LATER THIS AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING
HOURS.

A WATCH MEANS THAT TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH
AREA.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IN A HOME OR
BUSINESS IS AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID
WINDOWS.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...RADIO...CABLE TELEVISION...OR
TELEVISION FOR THE LATEST UPDATES CONCERNING THIS DEVELOPING WEATHER
SITUATION.

MARTELLO

The office that day

Everything else NWS Goodland, KS issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 24, 7:10 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GLD	Cheyenne	65 min
May 24, 7:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Sherman	64 min
May 24, 8:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Sherman	47 min
May 24, 8:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Sherman	48 min
May 24, 8:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Gove	48 min
May 24, 9:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Sheridan, Thomas	48 min
May 24, 9:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Sherman, Thomas	48 min
May 24, 9:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Thomas	46 min
May 24, 10:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Rawlins, Thomas	50 min
May 25, 4:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Gove	48 min
May 25, 5:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Gove	30 min
May 25, 6:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Graham	61 min

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.