Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 3, NWS Topeka, KS
NWS Topeka, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Mar 24, 1997, 5:43 PM CST for Osage County, Shawnee County, Kansas. It was in force for 47 min. 5 reports 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
- Mar 24, 1997, 5:43 PM CST (23:43 UTC)
- Expired
- Mar 24, 1997, 6:30 PM CST
- In force
- 47 min
- Issued by
- NWS Topeka, KS
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Osage County, KS, Shawnee County, KS
The radar
The Topeka radar (KTWX), 46 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:42 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 24, 5:47 PM CST | Hail 0.75 | Topeka, KS | |
| Mar 24, 6:01 PM CST | Hail 1 | Topeka, KS | |
| Mar 24, 6:14 PM CST | Hail 0.75 | Carbondale, KS | |
| Mar 24, 6:15 PM CST | Hail 0.75 | Scranton, KS | |
| Mar 24, 6:20 PM CST | Hail 0.75 | Topeka, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 24, 3:30 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 12:00Z, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 19 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1838 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 35 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 441 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 504 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KTOP 242344 RRA SVRTOP KSC139-177-250030- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 543 PM CST MON MAR 24 1997 * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR: NORTHERN OSAGE COUNTY - EAST CENTRAL KANSAS SHAWNEE COUNTY - EAST CENTRAL KANSAS * UNTIL 630 PM CST * SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED: AUBURN CARBONDALE WAKARUSA PAULINE SOUTH TOPEKA * AT 541 PM CST RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 20 MILES SOUTHWEST OF TOPEKA...OR JUST SOUTH OF AUBURN MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH. * THE STORM WILL BE NEAR: AUBURN AROUND 550 PM PAULINE AND SOUTH TOPEKA AROUND 600 PM A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN PRODUCE TORNADOES. SD/DAK
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Mar 24, 4:59 PM CST, 44 minutes before
KSZALL-250000- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 459 PM CST MON MAR 24 1997 TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 103 HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR PART OF KANSAS. THE WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES... ...NORTHEAST... BROWN JACKSON MARSHALL NEMAHA POTTAWATOMIE RILEY ...EAST CENTRAL... GEARY MORRIS WABAUNSEE THE FOLLOWING CITIES ARE NO LONGER INCLUDED IN THE TORNADO WATCH... HIAWATHA JUNCTION CITY MANHATTAN MARYSVILLE KAYS
Special weather statement, Mar 24, 5:04 PM CST, 39 minutes before
KSZALL-250000- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 459 PM CST MON MAR 24 1997 TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 103 HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR PART OF KANSAS. THE WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES... ...NORTHEAST... BROWN JACKSON MARSHALL NEMAHA POTTAWATOMIE RILEY ...EAST CENTRAL... GEARY MORRIS WABAUNSEE THE FOLLOWING CITIES ARE NO LONGER INCLUDED IN THE TO0RNADO WATCH... HIAWATHA JUNCTION CITY MANHATTAN MARYSVILLE KAYS
Local storm report, Mar 24, 5:42 PM CST, 1 minute before
LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
542 PM CST MON MAR 24 1997
TIME (CST) ...LOCATION OF EVENT... STATE ...TYPE OF EVENT/DAMAGE...
DATE ... ...COUNTY INVOLVED... ...FATALITIES AND INJURIES..
...REMARKS...
---------------------------------------------------------------------
535PM 10 SW LAWRENCE KS GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL
3/24/97 DOUGLASThe office that day
Everything else NWS Topeka, KS issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 24, 5:29 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Douglas, Jefferson | 46 min |
| Mar 24, 5:47 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Jackson, Jefferson | 48 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kansas, 1997Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.