Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 10, NWS Topeka, KS

May 25, 1997Shawnee County, Kansas

NWS Topeka, KS issued this tornado warning at May 25, 1997, 9:20 PM CDT for Shawnee County, Kansas. It was in force for 30 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 25, 1997, 9:20 PM CDT (02:20 UTC)
Expired: May 25, 1997, 9:50 PM CDT
In force: 30 min
Issued by: NWS Topeka, KS
Area: Whole counties

County Shawnee County, KS

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 41 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:24 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
May 25, 9:45 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 52	Dover, 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 25, 8:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 00:00Z, 2.3 hours before the alert went out and 11 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: 982 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -15 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1108 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 36 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 183 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.3
Supercell composite: 1.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

559 
WFUS1 KTOP 260221 RRA
TORTOP
KSC177-260250-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
920 PM CDT SUN MAY 25 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
     WESTERN SHAWNEE COUNTY - EAST CENTRAL KANSAS

* UNTIL 950 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
     DOVER
     WILLARD
     VALENCIA

* AT 917 PM RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 10 MILES WEST-SOUTHWEST OF
  TOPEKA...OR JUST NORTH OF DOVER MOVING NORTHEAST AT 5 MPH.

* REPORTS
     NUMEROUS REPORTS OF FUNNELS HAVE BEEN REPORTED WITH THIS
     STORM SINCE 9 PM
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE IN
THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE.  OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR POSSIBLE.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 25, 8:20 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Wabaunsee	50 min
May 25, 8:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Riley	32 min
May 25, 8:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Morris	61 min
May 25, 8:54 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Shawnee	31 min
May 25, 9:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Lyon	46 min
May 25, 9:07 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Wabaunsee	33 min
May 25, 9:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Shawnee	35 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Kansas, 1997 Every tornado warning in 1997 Tornadoes 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.