Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 30, NWS Topeka, KS

October 8, 1997Jefferson County, Shawnee County, Kansas

NWS Topeka, KS issued this tornado warning at Oct 8, 1997, 7:07 PM CDT for Jefferson County, Shawnee County, Kansas. It was in force for 48 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, 7:07 PM CDT (00:07 UTC)
Expired: Oct 8, 1997, 7:55 PM CDT
In force: 48 min
Issued by: NWS Topeka, KS
Area: Whole counties

Counties Jefferson County, KS, Shawnee County, KS

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 59 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:10 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, 7:20 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 57	Valley Falls, 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
Oct 8, 5:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 00:00Z, 0.1 hours before the alert went out and 17 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: 1094 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 526 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 48 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 246 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 295 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.6
Supercell composite: 8.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

282 
WFUS1 KTOP 090009
TORTOP
KSC087-177-090055-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED...CORRECTED FOR TIME
TORNADO WARNING...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
707 PM CDT WED OCT 8 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
     CENTRAL AND NORTHERN JEFFERSON COUNTY - NORTHEAST KANSAS
     EXTREME NORTHEASTERN SHAWNEE COUNTY - EAST CENTRAL KANSAS

* UNTIL 755 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
     ELMONT
     MERIDEN
     OZAWKIE
     VALLEY FALLS

* AT 705 PM RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 10 MILES NORTH OF TOPEKA NEAR
  ELMONT MOVING NORTHEAST OF 45 MPH.

* A WALL CLOUD WITH A POSSIBLE FUNNEL WAS REPORTED NEAR SILVER LAKE
  ABOUT 7 PM
 
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
WINDOWS.

&

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 8, 7:14 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Brown	46 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.