Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 52, NWS Topeka, KS

May 17, 1997Douglas County, Osage County, Kansas

NWS Topeka, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 17, 1997, 7:58 PM CDT for Douglas County, Osage County, Kansas. It was in force for 62 min. 1 report 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, 7:58 PM CDT (00:58 UTC)
Expired: May 17, 1997, 9:00 PM CDT
In force: 62 min
Issued by: NWS Topeka, KS
Area: Whole counties

Counties Douglas County, KS, Osage County, KS

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 17, 8:42 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 69	Globe, 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, 7:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 00:00Z, 1.0 hours before the alert went out and 28 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: 647 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -131 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2220 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 49 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 53 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 290 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 9.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

060 
WUUS1 KTOP 180059 RRA
SVRTOP
KSC045-139-180200-

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

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
     SOUTHERN DOUGLAS COUNTY - EAST CENTRAL KANSAS
     NORTHERN OSAGE COUNTY - EAST CENTRAL KANSAS

* UNTIL 900 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
     SCRANTON
     CARBONDALE
     OVERBROOK
     CLINTON LAKE AND CAMPGROUNDS
     LAWRENCE
     BALDWIN CITY
     VINLAND

* AT 755 PM CDT A TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 20
  MILES SOUTHWEST OF TOPEKA...OR 5 MILES SOUTHWEST OF  AUBURN...TO
  15 MILES SOUTHWEST OF LAWRENCE NEAR GLOBE MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH.

* THE STORM WILL BE NEAR
     CLINTON LAKE AROUND 810 PM
     LAWRENCE AROUND 820 PM
     CARBONDALE AROUND 815 PM

* REPORTS
     SEVERAL REPORTS OF LARGE HAIL WITH THESE STORMS
 
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, 7:20 PM CDT, 38 minutes before

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

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

0718 PM    ALMA                      KS   1 INCH HAIL
05/17/97   WABAUNSEE

Local storm report, May 17, 7:46 PM CDT, 12 minutes before

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

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

0740 PM    KEENE                     KS   .75 INCH HAIL
05/17/97   WABAUNSEE

0745 PM    DOVER                     KS   .88 INCH HAIL
05/17/97   SHAWNEE

0745 PM    SCRANTON                  KS   1 INCH HAIL
05/17/97   OSAGE

0746 PM    CARBONDALE                KS   1 INCH HAIL
05/17/97   OSAGE

Local storm report, May 17, 7:49 PM CDT, 9 minutes before

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

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

0740 PM    KEENE                     KS   .75 INCH HAIL
05/17/97   WABAUNSEE

0745 PM    DOVER                     KS   .88 INCH HAIL
05/17/97   SHAWNEE

0745 PM    SCRANTON            ,      KS   1 INCH HAIL
05/17/97   OSAGE

0746 PM    CARBONDALE                KS   1 INCH HAIL
05/17/97   OSAGE

Local storm report, May 17, 7:51 PM CDT, 7 minutes before

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

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

0750 PM    1 S CARBONDALE            KS   60 MPH TSTM GUST
05/17/97   OSAGE

Local storm report, May 17, 7:53 PM CDT, 5 minutes before

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

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

0752 PM    OVERBROOK                 KS   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/17/97   OSAGE

Local storm report, May 17, 7:55 PM CDT, 3 minutes before

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

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

0752 PMj    OVERBROOK                 KS   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/17/97   OSAGE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 17, 7:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Osage	47 min
May 17, 7:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Shawnee	61 min
May 17, 8:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Franklin	44 min
May 17, 8:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Marshall	63 min
May 17, 8:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Jefferson	50 min
May 17, 8:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Nemaha	48 min
May 17, 9:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Anderson	45 min
May 17, 9:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Dickinson, Morris	35 min
May 17, 10:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Anderson	32 min
May 17, 10:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Morris	52 min
May 18, 6:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Morris	62 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.