Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 402

June 11, 199726 counties in Kansas; 7 counties in Oklahoma; 4 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jun 11, 1997, 3:15 PM CDT for 26 counties in Kansas; 7 counties in Oklahoma; 4 counties in Texas. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jun 11, 1997, 3:15 PM CDT (20:15 UTC)
Expired: Jun 11, 1997, 9:00 PM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 37 counties

Clark County, KS, Comanche County, KS, Edwards County, KS, Ellis County, KS, Finney County, KS, Ford County, KS, Gove County, KS, Grant County, KS, Gray County, KS, Greeley County, KS, Haskell County, KS, Hodgeman County, KS, Kearny County, KS, Kiowa County, KS, Lane County, KS, Logan County, KS, Meade County, KS, Ness County, KS, Pawnee County, KS, Rush County, KS, Scott County, KS, Seward County, KS, Stevens County, KS, Trego County, KS, Wallace County, KS, Wichita County, KS, Beaver County, OK, Dewey County, OK, Ellis County, OK, Harper County, OK, Roger Mills County, OK, Woods County, OK, Woodward County, OK, Hemphill County, TX, Lipscomb County, TX, Ochiltree County, TX, Roberts County, TX

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 8 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:16 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.

Warnings issued inside it

8 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 11, 3:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Wallace	35 min
Jun 11, 4:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Greeley	63 min
Jun 11, 4:10 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GLD	Greeley	50 min
Jun 11, 5:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hemphill, Wheeler	57 min
Jun 11, 6:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Wichita	50 min
Jun 11, 6:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Gove	62 min
Jun 11, 7:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Ness	44 min
Jun 11, 7:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Ness	46 min

The nearest sounding before it

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 12:00Z, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 14 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: 243 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -183 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 784 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 380 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 461 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 4.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

409 
WWUS9 KMKC 111933
SEL2  
MKC WW 111933
TXZ000-OKZ000-KSZ000-120200-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 402
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
233 PM CDT WED JUN 11 1997

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   NORTHERN TEXAS PANHANDLE                              
   NORTHWEST OKLAHOMA                           
   WESTERN KANSAS                             

EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 315 PM UNTIL
900 PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 75 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 85 MILES NORTH OF GARDEN CITY KANSAS TO 45 MILES
SOUTH OF GAGE OKLAHOMA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.


DISCUSSION...VERY UNSTABLE AIRMASS WITH CAPES TO 4000 J/KG IN PLACE
ACROSS WATCH AREA. CAP BREAKING ON W EDGE OF INSTABILITY AXIS WITH
STORMS DEVELOPING VICINITY KS BORDER.  STORMS WILL RAPIDLY BECOME
SEVERE AS THEY MOVE INTO INSTABILITY WITH SHEAR PROFILE FAVORABLE
FOR SUPERCELLS  AND TORNADOES.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 3 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 600. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 27030.


...HALES

390,0991 353,0982 353,1010 390,1020

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 11, 5:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Anderson, Atchison, Brown, Chase, Clay, Coffey and 20 more	5 hr
Jun 11, 5:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Decatur, Graham, Jewell, Mitchell, Norton, Osborne and 4 more	4 hr
Jun 11, 4:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Beckham, Custer, Greer, Harmon, Jackson, Kiowa and 1 more	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Kansas, 1997 Tornado Watches in Oklahoma, 1997 Tornado Watches in Texas, 1997 Every tornado watch 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.