Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 31, NWS Topeka, KS

October 8, 1997Brown County, Kansas

NWS Topeka, KS issued this tornado warning at Oct 8, 1997, 7:14 PM CDT for Brown County, Kansas. It was in force for 46 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
Oct 8, 1997, 7:14 PM CDT (00:14 UTC)
Expired
Oct 8, 1997, 8:00 PM CDT
In force
46 min
Issued by
NWS Topeka, KS
Area
Whole counties

County Brown County, KS

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 109 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:15 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
Oct 8, 5:30 PM CDTTornado WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 00:00Z, 0.2 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 1997-10-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1094 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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 1997-10-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 246 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
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.

000 
TTAA00 KTOP 090013 RRA
TORTOP
KSC013-090100-

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

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
     SOUTHEASTERN BROWN COUNTY - NORTHEAST KANSAS

* UNTIL 800 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
     HORTON
     EVEREST
     WILLIS

* AT 715 PM RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO 22 MILES SOUTH OF HIAWATHA OR
  JUST NORTH OF WHITING MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.
 
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.

ABANDON MOBILE HOMES!  GO IN A NEARBY STURDY BUILDING!  AS A LAST
RESORT LIE FLAT IN A DITCH AND COVER YOUR HEAD!

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Oct 8, 7:07 PM CDTTornado WarningTOPJefferson, Shawnee48 min

Nearby

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