Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 89, NWS Topeka, KS

June 15, 1997Cloud County, Kansas

NWS Topeka, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 15, 1997, 5:59 PM CDT for Cloud County, Kansas. It was in force for 61 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jun 15, 1997, 5:59 PM CDT (22:59 UTC)
Expired
Jun 15, 1997, 7:00 PM CDT
In force
61 min
Issued by
NWS Topeka, KS
Area
Whole counties

County Cloud County, KS

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 115 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:03 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.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Jun 15, 4:15 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 181 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 12:00Z on 1997-06-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 160 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 12:00Z on 1997-06-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 80 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
160 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-147 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1222 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
80 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
125 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KTOP 152259 RRA
SVRTOP
KSC029-160000-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
559 PM CDT SUN JUN 15 1997

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
     SOUTHERN CLOUD COUNTY - NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS

* UNTIL 700 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
     GLASCO
     AURORA
     RURAL AREAS OF SOUTHERN CLOUD COUNTY

* AT 555 PM CDT RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 15 MILES
  SOUTHWEST OF CONCORDIA...OR JUST NORTHpWEST OF GLASCO MOVING EAST
  AT 20 MPH.

 
LARGE HAIL IS LIKELY.  GO INSIDE A STURDY BUILDING AND STAY
AWAY FROM WINDOWS!

JW/PB

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, Jun 15, 12:10 PM CDT, 5 hours 49 minutes before
KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058-059-152315-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
1210 PM CDT SUN JUN 15 1997

STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE LIKELY ACROSS NORTH-CENTRAL AND
NORTHEAST KANSAS LATER THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH THE EVENING.

THE MAIN THREAT WILL BE SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT WITH THE
POTENTIAL FOR DAMAGING WINDS AND POSSIBLY TORNADOES DURING THE
AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

SYNOPSIS:  SEVERE STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP AHEAD OF A COLD
FRONT THAT WILL BE MOVING THORUGH NORTH-CENTRAL KANSAS THIS EVENING
AND THROUGH NORTHEAST KANSAS OVERNIGHT.

WHILE THE MOST LIKELY AREA OF SEVERE STORM DEVELOPMENT WILL BE NEAR
THE COLD FRONT...THE WARM AND INCREASINGLY MOIST AIRMASS OVER
NORTH-CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST KANSAS COULD SPAWN STRONG THUNDERSTORM
DEVELOPMENT WELL AHEAD OF THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 15, 6:55 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPWashington50 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.