Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 23, NWS Topeka, KS

October 8, 1997Pottawatomie County, Riley County, Kansas

NWS Topeka, KS issued this tornado warning at Oct 8, 1997, 5:18 PM CDT for Pottawatomie County, Riley County, Kansas. It was in force for 47 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: Oct 8, 1997, 5:18 PM CDT (22:18 UTC)
Expired: Oct 8, 1997, 6:05 PM CDT
In force: 47 min
Issued by: NWS Topeka, KS
Area: Whole counties

Counties Pottawatomie County, KS, Riley County, KS

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 46 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:19 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
Oct 8, 6:15 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Emmett, 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 nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 12:00Z, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 86 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: 540 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -2 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 624 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 166 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 184 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.4
Supercell composite: 1.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KTOP 082217 RRA
TORTOP
KSC149-161-082305-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
518 PM CDT WED OCT 8 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
     WESTERN POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY - NORTHEAST KANSAS
     SOUTHERN RILEY COUNTY - NORTHEAST KANSAS

* UNTIL 605 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
     NEAR MANHATTAN
     ROCKY FORD
     TUTTLE CREEK STATE PARK
     FLUSH

* AT 517 PM RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 5 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF
  MANHATTAN MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.

* REPORTS
     FUNNEL CLOUD REPORTED WEST OF MANHATTAN AIRPORT
 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IN A HOME OR
BUSINESS IS AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID
WINDObWS.

&

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 8, 4:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Marshall	48 min
Oct 8, 4:58 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Morris	47 min
Oct 8, 5:44 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Geary, Morris, Wabaunsee	46 min
Oct 8, 5:51 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Pottawatomie	49 min
Oct 8, 6:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Jackson	47 min
Oct 8, 6:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Wabaunsee	30 min
Oct 8, 6:30 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Jackson, Shawnee	50 min
Oct 8, 6:55 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Jackson	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.