Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 7, NWS Goodland, KS

May 6, 1997Rawlins County, Kansas

NWS Goodland, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 6, 1997, 6:08 PM CDT for Rawlins County, Kansas. It was in force for 47 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 6, 1997, 6:08 PM CDT (23:08 UTC)
Expired
May 6, 1997, 6:55 PM CDT
In force
47 min
Issued by
NWS Goodland, KS
Area
Whole counties

County Rawlins County, KS

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 71 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:08 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 6, 6:20 PM CDTHail 1Atwood, 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 nearest sounding before it

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 12:00Z, 11.1 hours before the alert went out and 155 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 12:00Z on 1997-05-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 12:00Z on 1997-05-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 296 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1976 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
296 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
371 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.

714 
WUUS1 KGLD 062308 RRA
SVRGLD
KSC153-062355-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
508 PM MDT TUE MAY 6 1997

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  RAWLINS COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN KANSAS

* UNTIL 655 PM CDT (555 PM MDT)
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  JCT HWY 117 AND HWY 36                  AROUND 640 PM CDT
  HERNDON                                 AROUND 645 PM CDT

* AT 606 PM CDT...GOODLAND DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 7 MILES SOUTH OF ATWOOD MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM STAY INDOORS AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

BARKER

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 6, 3:01 PM CDT, 3 hours 7 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 6, 3:01 PM CDT, 3 hours 7 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
200 PM MDT (300 PM CDT) TUE MAY 6 1997

...BIGGEST PROBS THIS FCST PCKG IS TIMING OF DYNAMICS...

MODELS WERE IN DECENT AGREEMENT THIS AM. NGM SEEMED TO HAVE BETTER
HANDLE ON SFC FEATURES...ESP WITH LEE TROF. HWVR...ETA DID MUCH
BETTER WITH UPPER LEVEL DYNAMICS. ONLY PROBLEM IS THE STRENGTH OF
THE NEXT SHWV COMING OUT OF GRT BASIN. SAT WV IMAGERY PICKS UP
SHWV WELL BUT MODELS DONT SEEM TO HAVE A HANDLE ON IT...SO TIMING IS
VERY UNCERTAIN. EXPECT SHWV TO MV THRU FA TONIGHT WITH WK COLD
FNT...WITH TSTMS PSBL ACROSS FA THIS EVE INTO TONIGHT. SOME SVR
PSBL IN ERN ZONES BUT EXPECT ONLY MARGINAL ELSEWHERE.

LIKED ETA DYNAMICS INTO TMRW AND OUT PDS AS STRONGER SHWV BEGINS TO
SLIDE DOWN BACKSIDE OF WK RIDGE. EXPECT GOOD PVA AHEAD OF SYS DURING
DAY TOMORROW. FA STAYS IN RIGHT REAR QUAD OF 300 MB JET SO SYNOPTIC
LIFT SHUD BE ENHANCED. MSTR SHUD STAY IN PLACE BEHIND WK FNT AND
SOME UPSLOPE WITH NE WINDS WILL HELP FORM MORE WIDESPREAD TSTMS.
AGAIN...QUESTION IS TIMING. FEEL TSTMS WILL CONT ACROSS FA INTO TMRW
NGHT BUT SHUD DISSIPATE AS NVA WORKS IN. GOOD SUBSIDENCE IN 750-300
Q-VECT CNVRG AND LESS MSTR SO SHUD EXPECT MILD BUT COOLER CONDS IN
4TH PD.

STAYED CLOSE TO FWC THRU ALL BUT 4TH PDS. FWC HAS BEEN TOO COOL PAST
FEW DAYS WITH 4TH PD SO FOLLOWED TREND. OTHERWISE...ONLY DEVIATED A
DEGREE OR TWO.

GLD 053/077/043/068 243  HLC 056/079/047/071 243
CBK 054/078/045/070 243  MCK 052/077/044/069 243
TRB 056/080/046/070 243  ITR 052/077/044/069 243

GONSOWSKI

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.