Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 22, NWS Wichita, KS

May 25, 1997Chautauqua County, Cowley County, Kansas

NWS Wichita, KS issued this tornado warning at May 25, 1997, 10:08 PM CDT for Chautauqua County, Cowley County, Kansas. It was in force for 62 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, 10:08 PM CDT (03:08 UTC)
Expired: May 25, 1997, 11:10 PM CDT
In force: 62 min
Issued by: NWS Wichita, KS
Area: Whole counties

Counties Chautauqua County, KS, Cowley County, KS

The radar

The Wichita radar (KICT), 95 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:11 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, 10:53 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 52	Winfield, 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, 8:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 00:00Z, 3.1 hours before the alert went out and 216 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: 982 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -15 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1108 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 36 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 183 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.3
Supercell composite: 1.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KICT 260308 RRA
TORICT
KSC019-035-260410-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
1008 PM CDT SUN MAY 25 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  WESTERN CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY - SOUTHEAST KANSAS
  EASTERN COWLEY COUNTY - SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS

* UNTIL 1110 PM CDT
 
* SOME TOWNS AFFECTED
    HOOSER
    CEDAR VALE
    HEWINS

* AT 1005 RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 18 MILES EAST OF
  ARKANSAS CITY ON HIGHWAY 166 MOVING EAST AT 15 MPH. THIS STORM
  HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING TORNADOES AND MAY PRODUCE ANOTHER ONE
  AT ANY TIME.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IS A
BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A STAIRWELL OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF
NO BASEMENT IS xAVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM SUCH AS
A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...OR CUSHIONS
TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.

HOWERTON

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 25, 7:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Kingman	63 min
May 25, 7:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	McPherson	64 min
May 25, 7:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Harper	63 min
May 25, 7:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Harvey	63 min
May 25, 7:17 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Harper	63 min
May 25, 7:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Marion	62 min
May 25, 7:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Saline	47 min
May 25, 7:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Harvey	61 min
May 25, 7:40 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Sumner	60 min
May 25, 8:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Chase, Marion	65 min
May 25, 8:34 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Butler	61 min
May 25, 8:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Sumner	61 min
May 25, 8:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Harvey	33 min
May 25, 9:11 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Cowley	59 min
May 25, 9:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Butler	60 min
May 25, 9:36 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Sumner	44 min
May 25, 9:40 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Greenwood	65 min
May 25, 10:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Greenwood, Woodson	61 min
May 25, 11:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Allen	64 min
May 25, 11:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Chautauqua, Montgomery	63 min
May 25, 11:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Neosho	51 min
May 26, 6:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Chautauqua	62 min
May 26, 6:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Montgomery	61 min
May 26, 6:25 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Chautauqua	60 min
May 26, 6:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Cowley	61 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.