Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 406

June 11, 199710 counties in Kansas; 14 counties in Nebraska

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jun 11, 1997, 5:30 PM CDT for 10 counties in Kansas; 14 counties in Nebraska. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jun 11, 1997, 5:30 PM CDT (22:30 UTC)
Expired: Jun 11, 1997, 9:00 PM CDT
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 24 counties

Decatur County, KS, Graham County, KS, Jewell County, KS, Mitchell County, KS, Norton County, KS, Osborne County, KS, Phillips County, KS, Rooks County, KS, Sheridan County, KS, Smith County, KS, Adams County, NE, Buffalo County, NE, Dawson County, NE, Franklin County, NE, Frontier County, NE, Furnas County, NE, Gosper County, NE, Hall County, NE, Harlan County, NE, Kearney County, NE, Lincoln County, NE, Phelps County, NE, Red Willow County, NE, Webster County, NE

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 64 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:32 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 11, 5:39 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Sheridan	61 min
Jun 11, 5:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LBF	Frontier	47 min
Jun 11, 6:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Dawson	42 min
Jun 11, 6:33 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Gosper	42 min
Jun 11, 6:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LBF	Frontier	58 min
Jun 11, 7:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Red Willow	65 min
Jun 11, 7:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Furnas	54 min
Jun 11, 7:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Gosper	45 min
Jun 11, 7:25 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Furnas	35 min
Jun 11, 7:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Harlan	65 min
Jun 11, 8:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Red Willow	36 min
Jun 11, 8:05 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Hall	25 min
Jun 11, 8:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Phillips	51 min
Jun 11, 8:23 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Hall	37 min
Jun 11, 8:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Franklin	43 min
Jun 11, 8:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Smith	39 min
Jun 11, 8:58 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Hall, Hamilton	47 min

The nearest sounding before it

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 12:00Z, 10.5 hours before the alert went out and 152 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: 270 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -37 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 578 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 279 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 369 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

498 
WWUS9 KMKC 112212
SEL6  
MKC WW 112212
NEZ000-KSZ000-120200-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 406
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
512 PM CDT WED JUN 11 1997

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

   SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA                           
   NORTHWEST AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS                             

EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 530 PM UNTIL
900 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 70 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 35 MILES NORTHWEST OF KEARNEY NEBRASKA TO 30 MILES
SOUTHEAST OF HILL CITY KANSAS.

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...WW 405...

DISCUSSION...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CONT TO DEVELOP ALONG SURFACE
DRYLINE ACROSS THE AREA.  AIRMASS JUST EAST OF THE DRYLINE IS VERY
UNSTABLE WITH LIFTED INDICES BETWEEN -6 AND -9.


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 29030.


...MCCARTHY

410,0980 390,0980 390,1004 410,1004

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, 5:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Anderson, Atchison, Brown, Chase, Clay, Coffey and 20 more	5 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 Nebraska, 1997 Tornado Watches in Kansas, 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.