Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 405

June 11, 199726 counties in Kansas; Holt County, Missouri; Jefferson County, Pawnee County, Richardson County, Nebraska

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jun 11, 1997, 5:00 PM CDT for 26 counties in Kansas; Holt County, Missouri; Jefferson County, Pawnee County, Richardson County, Nebraska. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jun 11, 1997, 5:00 PM CDT (22:00 UTC)
Expired: Jun 11, 1997, 10:00 PM CDT
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 30 counties

Anderson County, KS, Atchison County, KS, Brown County, KS, Chase County, KS, Clay County, KS, Coffey County, KS, Dickinson County, KS, Doniphan County, KS, Douglas County, KS, Franklin County, KS, Geary County, KS, Jackson County, KS, Jefferson County, KS, Leavenworth County, KS, Linn County, KS, Lyon County, KS, Marion County, KS, Marshall County, KS, Morris County, KS, Nemaha County, KS, Osage County, KS, Pottawatomie County, KS, Riley County, KS, Shawnee County, KS, Wabaunsee County, KS, Washington County, KS, Holt County, MO, Jefferson County, NE, Pawnee County, NE, Richardson County, NE

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 9 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:01 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 11, 5:09 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Nemaha, Pottawatomie	61 min
Jun 11, 5:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Marshall	59 min
Jun 11, 5:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Jackson	63 min
Jun 11, 6:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Jefferson	60 min
Jun 11, 7:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Johnson, Leavenworth	72 min
Jun 11, 7:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Douglas	31 min
Jun 11, 8:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Jefferson	47 min

The nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 12:00Z, 10.0 hours before the alert went out and 56 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: 155 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -19 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 633 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 45 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 99 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

418 
WWUS9 KMKC 112200
SEL5  
MKC WW 112200
NEZ000-KSZ000-120300-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 405
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
500 PM CDT WED JUN 11 1997

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

   SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA                           
   NORTHEAST AND EAST CENTRAL KANSAS                             

EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 500 PM UNTIL
1000 PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 3/4 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND
GUSTS TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE
AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 65 STATUTE MILES EITHER SIDE OF
A LINE FROM 20 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF EMPORIA KANSAS TO 25 MILES
WEST NORTHWEST OF FALLS CITY NEBRASKA.

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.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 402...WW 403...WW 404...

DISCUSSION...SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO MOVE SSEWD ACROSS
NORTHEAST KANSAS ALONG A NORTH-SOUTH BOUNDARY. ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED
TO MOVE ALONG THERMAL BOUNDARY NEXT FEW HOURS.


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 3/4 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
550.  MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 31030.


...MCCARTHY

380,0971 401,0971 401,0944 380,0945

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 11, 3:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Clark, Comanche, Edwards, Ellis, Finney, Ford and 20 more	6 hr
Jun 11, 5:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Decatur, Graham, Jewell, Mitchell, Norton, Osborne and 4 more	4 hr
Jun 11, 3:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Blaine, Boone, Boyd, Brown, Cherry, Custer and 14 more	6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Kansas, 1997 Tornado Watches in Nebraska, 1997 Tornado Watches in Missouri, 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.