Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Wichita, KS

May 18, 1997Reno County, Kansas

NWS Wichita, KS issued this tornado warning at May 18, 1997, 6:42 PM CDT for Reno County, Kansas. It was in force for 48 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 18, 1997, 6:42 PM CDT (23:42 UTC)
Expired: May 18, 1997, 7:30 PM CDT
In force: 48 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 23:30 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
May 18, 6:43 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Sylvia, 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 18, 5:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 12:00Z, 11.7 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: 185 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -446 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2337 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 25 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 17 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.

682 
WFUS1 KICT 182348
TORICT
KSC155-190030-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING...CORRECTED TYPO
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
642 PM CDT SUN MAY 18 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  RENO COUNTY - SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS

* UNTIL 730 PM CDT
 
* SOME TOWNS AFFECTED
    SYLVIA BY 645 PM
    PLEVNA BY 7 PM
    ABBEYVILLE BY 715 PM

* AT 640 PM A TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED A TORNADO NEAR SYVIA OR 25
  MILES SOUTHWEST OF HUTCHINSON MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.
  THIS REPLACES THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR RENO COUNTY.

THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS STORM.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE IN THE
PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF AVAILABLE.
OTHERWISE... GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
POSSIBLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES FOR A
STURDIER BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.

ROSNER
 

&

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 17, 7:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Marion	62 min
May 17, 10:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Allen	62 min
May 18, 5:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	McPherson	62 min
May 18, 5:51 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Reno	34 min
May 18, 6:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Reno	56 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.