Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 48, NWS Topeka, KS

May 17, 1997Geary County, Morris County, Kansas

NWS Topeka, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 17, 1997, 6:19 PM CDT for Geary County, Morris County, Kansas. It was in force for 61 min. 3 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: May 17, 1997, 6:19 PM CDT (23:19 UTC)
Expired: May 17, 1997, 7:20 PM CDT
In force: 61 min
Issued by: NWS Topeka, KS
Area: Whole counties

Counties Geary County, KS, Morris County, KS

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where
May 17, 6:35 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Junction City, KS
May 17, 6:35 PM CDT	Hail 1.25	Junction City, KS
May 17, 6:36 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Junction City, 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
May 17, 3:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 12:00Z, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 93 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: 107 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -414 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1336 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 255 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 258 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.

563 
WUUS1 KTOP 172320 RRA
SVRTOP
KSC061-127-180020-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
619 PM CDT SAT MAY 17 1997

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
     GEARY COUNTY - EAST CENTRAL KANSAS
     NORTHERN MORRIS COUNTY - EAST CENTRAL KANSAS

* UNTIL 720 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
     LATIMER
     WHITE CITY
     DWIGHT
     SKIDDY
     JUNCTION CITY
     FORT RILEY
     OLSON
     WREFORD
     MILFORD STATE PARK AND MILFORD LAKE

* AT 616 PM CDT RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 15 MILES
  SOUTHWEST OF JUNCTION CITY...OR NEAR WOODBINE MOVING EAST AT 25
  MPH.

* THE STORM WILL BE NEAR
     JUNCTION CITY AROUND 640 PM
     WHITE CITY AROUND 635 PM
     DWIGHT AROUND 650 PM

* REPORTS
     LARGE HAIL AND 60 MPH WINDS 5 MILES SOUTH OF NAVARRE AT 552
 
DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL ARE LIKELY.  GO INSIDE A STURDY
BUILDING AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS

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

Local storm report, May 17, 5:38 PM CDT, 41 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
538 PM CDT SAT MAY 17 1997

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0536 PM    2 SW CARLTON              KS   .75 INCH HAIL
05/17/97   DICKINSON

Local storm report, May 17, 5:40 PM CDT, 39 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
538 PM CDT SAT MAY 17 1997

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0536 PM    2 SW CARLTON              KS   .75 INCH HAIL
05/17/97   DICKINSON

Local storm report, May 17, 5:41 PM CDT, 38 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
541 PM CDT SAT MAY 17 1997

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0541 PM    1 SW ELMO                 KS   1 INCH HAIL
05/17/97   DICKINSON

Local storm report, May 17, 5:44 PM CDT, 35 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
541 PM CDT SAT MAY 17 1997

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0541 PM    1 SW ELMO                 KS   1 INCH HAIL
05/17/97   DICKINSON

Local storm report, May 17, 6:03 PM CDT, 16 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
603 PM CDT SAT MAY 17 1997

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0552 PM    5 S NAVARRE               KS   60 MPH TSTM GUST
05/17/97   DICKINSON

0552 PM    5 S NAVARRE               KS   .88 INCH HAIL
05/17/97   DICKINSON

Local storm report, May 17, 6:04 PM CDT, 15 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
603 PM CDT SAT MAY 17 1997

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0552 PM`    5 S NAVARRE               KS   60 MPH TSTM GUST
05/17/97   DICKINSON

0552 PM    5 S NAVARRE               KS   .88 INCH HAIL
05/17/97   DICKINSON

The office that day

Everything else NWS Topeka, KS issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 16, 7:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Pottawatomie	47 min
May 16, 7:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Riley, Wabaunsee	46 min
May 16, 7:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Marshall	14 min
May 16, 7:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Pottawatomie	62 min
May 16, 7:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Wabaunsee	63 min
May 16, 7:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Brown, Nemaha	61 min
May 16, 9:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Brown, Jackson	34 min
May 16, 9:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Jefferson	39 min
May 17, 5:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Dickinson	48 min
May 17, 5:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Dickinson	47 min
May 17, 6:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Dickinson	33 min
May 17, 6:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Riley, Wabaunsee	60 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kansas, 1997 Every 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.