Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 57, NWS Topeka, KS

May 17, 1997Anderson County, Kansas

NWS Topeka, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 17, 1997, 9:20 PM CDT for Anderson County, Kansas. It was in force for 45 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, 9:20 PM CDT (02:20 UTC)
Expired
May 17, 1997, 10:05 PM CDT
In force
45 min
Issued by
NWS Topeka, KS
Area
Whole counties

County Anderson County, KS

The radar

The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 111 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:20 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 17, 9:33 PM CDTHail 0.75Garnett, 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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
May 17, 7:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 00:00Z, 2.3 hours before the alert went out and 92 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 1997-05-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 647 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 1997-05-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 53 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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.

624 
WUUS1 KTOP 180222 RRA
SVRTOP
KSC003-180305-

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

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
     ANDERSON COUNTY - EAST CENTRAL KANSAS

* UNTIL 1005 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
     GARNETT
     SCIPIO
     GREELEY
     BUSH CITY
     WELDA

* AT 919 PM CDT LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
  ABOUT 25 MILES SOUTH OF OTTAWA...OR NEAR GARNETT MOVING SOUTHEAST
  AT 15 MPH.

* THE STORM WILL BE NEAR
     BUSH CITY AROUND 940 PM

* REPORTS
     THREE-QUARTER INCH HAIL IN GARNETT AT 919 PM
 
THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF LARGE HAIL.  STAY INDOORS AWAY FROM
WINDOWS

DDN

&

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, 8:38 PM CDT, 42 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
838 PM CDT SAT MAY 17 1997

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

0836 PM    MARYSVILLE                KS   1 INCH HAIL
05/17/97   MARSHALL
Local storm report, May 17, 8:39 PM CDT, 41 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
838 PM CDT SAT MAY 17 1997

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

0836 PM    MARYSVILLE                KS   1 INCH HAIL
05/17/97   MARSHALL
Local storm report, May 17, 8:42 PM CDT, 38 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
842 PM CDT SAT MAY 17 1997

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

0840 PM    WILLIAMSTOWN              KS   .75 INCH HAIL
05/17/97   JEFFERSON

0842 PM    4 E MARYSVILLE            KS   1 INCH HAIL
05/17/97   MARSHALL
Local storm report, May 17, 8:44 PM CDT, 36 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
842 PM CDT SAT MAY 17 1997

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

0840 PM    WILLIAMSTOWN              KS   .75 INCH HAIL
05/17/97   JEFFERSON

0842 PM    4 E MARYSVILLE            KS   1 INCH HAIL
05/17/97   MARSHALL
Local storm report, May 17, 8:50 PM CDT, 30 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
850 PM CDT SAT MAY 17 1997

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

0842 PM    GLOBE                     KS   80 MPH TSTM GUST
05/17/97   DOUGLAS
Local storm report, May 17, 8:52 PM CDT, 28 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
850 PM CDT SAT MAY 17 1997

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

0842 PM
    GLOBE                     KS   80 MPH TSTM GUST
05/17/97   DOUGLAS

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 17, 7:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPOsage47 min
May 17, 7:34 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPShawnee61 min
May 17, 7:58 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPDouglas, Osage62 min
May 17, 8:06 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPFranklin44 min
May 17, 8:17 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPMarshall63 min
May 17, 8:35 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPJefferson50 min
May 17, 8:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPNemaha48 min
May 17, 9:50 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPDickinson, Morris35 min
May 17, 10:03 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPAnderson32 min
May 17, 10:23 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPMorris52 min
May 18, 6:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPMorris62 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.