Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 150, NWS Wichita, KS

July 8, 1997Reno County, Kansas

NWS Wichita, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 8, 1997, 8:26 PM CDT for Reno County, Kansas. It was in force for 59 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: Jul 8, 1997, 8:26 PM CDT (01:26 UTC)
Expired: Jul 8, 1997, 9:25 PM CDT
In force: 59 min
Issued by: NWS Wichita, KS
Area: Whole counties

County Reno County, KS

The radar

The Wichita radar (KICT), 66 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:30 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
Jul 8, 8:45 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 75	Yoder, KS
Jul 8, 8:57 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Haven, 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

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 00:00Z, 1.4 hours before the alert went out and 161 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: 1818 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -125 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2019 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 73 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 164 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KICT 090126 RRA
SVRICT
KSC155-090225-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
826 PM CDT TUE JUL 8 1997

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  RENO COUNTY - SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS

* UNTIL 925 PM CDT
 
* SOME TOWNS AFFECTED
    YODER
    DARLOW
    ELMER
    HUTCHINSON

* AT 826 PM RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 5 MILES SOUTH OF
  HUTCHINSON MOVING EAST AT 5 MPH.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM.  IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH...EXPECT WINDS
OF 75 MPH OR GREATER...HAIL LARGER THAN AN INCH IN DIAMETER AND
TORRENTIAL RAIN.  SEEK A STRONG INDOOR SHELTER AWAY FROM WINDOWS
IMMEDIATELY.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY.  YOU SHOULD NEVER
TRY TO CROSS WATE|R COVERED ROADS.

MATT

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 Wichita, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jul 8, 3:26 PM CDT, 5 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 8, 3:26 PM CDT, 5 hours before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
326 PM CDT TUE JUL 8 1997

...SHORT TERM...
TSRA CHANCES MAIN QUESTION FOR TONIGHT. 19Z SFC ANALYSIS DEPICTS WEAK
WARM FRONT LIFTING BACK INTO SRN NEB WHILE REMNANTS OF OLD OUTFLOW
BOUNDARY STILL EVIDENT FROM SC KS BACK INTO CE OK. AIRMASS OVER MUCH OF
THE REGION BECOMING VERY UNSTABLE WITH LIS NR MINUS 10 AND CAPES OVER
3000 J/KG. WARM AIR AT 700 MB STILL PREVENTING CONVECTIVE
DEVELOPMENT...THOUGH FEEL COMBINATION OF HEATING AND STG MCONV ALONG
OLD BOUNDARIES SHOULD INITIATE SOME ACTIVITY BY EVENING. UNCERTAIN
ABOUT ORGANIZED CONVECTION TONIGHT AS 850 MB FLOW FCST TO REMIN BELOW
25 KTS...MUCH WEAKER THAN INFLOW INTO LAST NIGHTS MCS. MDLS POINT TO
SC KS WITH BEST UVV AND MCONV AND WILL GO WITH HIGHEST POPS
HERE...SLIGHTLY LOWER CE/SE SECTS. HIGH DEWPOINTS SUGGEST LOWS A DEGREE
OR 2 HIGHER THAN FWC.

...LONG TERM...
CONCERN IN THE LONG TERM IS PCPN CHANCES. WHILE ETA APPEARS TOO DRY
IN THE LOW LEVELS...PERFERRED ITS HANDLING OF UPPER FEATURES AND
WAS GENERALLY USED.

FOR WEDNESDAY...ETA GRIDDED DATA HINTS THE WEAK BOUNDARY
MENTIONED IN SHORT TERM DISCUSSION STILL LINGERS ACROSS CENTRAL KS.
ALSO...MODELS AGREE IN BRINGING A WEAK SHORTWAVE OVER THE RIDGE ACRS
CNTRL KS. THUS...WITH THETA-E RIDGE STILL IN PLACE ALONG WITH FCST
CAPES BTWN 2000-3000 J/KG WILL KEEP SCT TSRA IN FORECAST. AS FOR
TEMPS...WITH 85H TEMPS AROUND TDY/S VALUES AND ADDITIONAL SUNSHINE
EXPECTED...WILL GO ABV GUIDANCE VALUES FOR HIGHS.

WILL ALSO CONTINUE SCT POPS FOR WEDNESDAY NIGHT WITH ABOVE MENTIONED
SHORTWAVE TRACKING ESE AND 85H SOUTHERLY FLOW STRENGTHING. 5H RIDGE
BUILDS IN NICELY ON THURSDAY...BUT WITH AVN KEEPING WK SHORTWAVE
ENERGY UNDER RIDGE WILL KEEP A SMALL MENTION OF TSRA. ALSO...SOME
LINGERING TSRA MAY STILL BE AROUND FROM EARLY MORNING CONVECTION IN
THE ERN PTN OF THE CWA. WITH 1000-500MB THICKNESSES RISING...WILL
AGAIN GO ABV GUIDANCE VALUE FOR HIGHS THURSDAY.

HYSELL

RSL 069/089 067/092     12333
SLN 070/091 070/093     12333
ICT 071/093 070/093     12433
HUT 070/093 070/093     12433
CNU 070/087 067/090     12323

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 8, 8:11 PM CDT, 15 minutes before

KSZ032-033-047>053-O67>072-082-083-091>096-098>100-090125-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
811 PM CDT TUE JUL 8 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WICHITA IS ACTIVATING OUR
SKYWARN SPOTTER NETWORK.

A SKYWARN OPERATOR IS MONITORING AREA NETWORKS.

THE PRIMARY SKYWARN FREQUENCY IS 146.94 MHZ.

SECONDARY FREQUENCIES ARE ALSO BEING MONITORED ON 146.82 AND 145.13 MHZ.

KED

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 8, 7:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Sedgwick	64 min
Jul 8, 7:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Reno	62 min
Jul 8, 7:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Harvey	58 min
Jul 8, 7:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	McPherson	61 min
Jul 8, 8:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Sedgwick	63 min
Jul 8, 10:14 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	ICT	Reno	3 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.