Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 407

June 11, 199711 counties in Kansas; 17 counties in Nebraska

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jun 11, 1997, 9:00 PM CDT for 11 counties in Kansas; 17 counties in Nebraska. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jun 11, 1997, 9:00 PM CDT (02:00 UTC)
Expired: Jun 12, 1997, 3:00 AM CDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 28 counties

Clay County, KS, Cloud County, KS, Jewell County, KS, Lincoln County, KS, Mitchell County, KS, Osborne County, KS, Ottawa County, KS, Republic County, KS, Rooks County, KS, Smith County, KS, Washington County, KS, Adams County, NE, Cass County, NE, Clay County, NE, Fillmore County, NE, Franklin County, NE, Gage County, NE, Hall County, NE, Hamilton County, NE, Jefferson County, NE, Kearney County, NE, Lancaster County, NE, Nuckolls County, NE, Saline County, NE, Seward County, NE, Thayer County, NE, Webster County, NE, York County, NE

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 61 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:00 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 11, 9:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Jewell	38 min
Jun 11, 9:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Osborne, Rooks	48 min
Jun 11, 9:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Jewell	51 min
Jun 11, 9:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Mitchell	62 min
Jun 11, 10:05 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Cloud	65 min
Jun 11, 10:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Rooks	41 min
Jun 11, 10:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Lincoln, Russell	61 min
Jun 11, 10:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Ottawa	60 min
Jun 11, 11:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Clay, Dickinson	63 min

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 00:00Z, 2.0 hours before the alert went out and 235 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1724 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 58 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 281 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

798 
WWUS9 KMKC 120148
SEL7  
MKC WW 120148
KSZ000-NEZ000-120800-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 407
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
848 PM CDT WED JUN 11 1997

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

   NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS                             
   SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA                           

EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY MORNING FROM 900 PM
UNTIL 300 AM 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 60 MILES SOUTHWEST OF CONCORDIA KANSAS TO 35 MILES
WEST NORTHWEST OF LINCOLN 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...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO WATCH
NUMBER 403...TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 405...TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 406. 
WATCH NUMBER 403...405...406 WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 900 PM
CDT.  
DISCUSSION...ACTIVITY MOVING SOUTHEASTWARD INTO NORTH CENTRAL
KANSAS AND ACROSS PARTS OF SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA.  AIRMASS
CONTINUES TO MODERATELY UNSTABLE WITH LIFTED INDICES BETWEEN -5 AND
-8. LOW LEVEL JET IS FORECAST TO INCREASE ACROSS CENTRAL KANSAS
BECOMING COUPLED WITH NEAR 50 KNOT MIDDLE LEVEL JET ACROSS THE
KANSAS/NEBRASKA BORDER KEEPING FAVORABLE VERTICAL SHEAR PROFILE.


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 31035.


...MCCARTHY

385,0994 410,0984 410,0960 385,0970

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 11, 11:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Barton, Chase, Clay, Cloud, Dickinson, Edwards and 28 more	5 hr
Jun 12, 1:30 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Allen, Anderson, Barber, Bourbon, Butler, Chautauqua and 19 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.