Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 8, NWS Topeka, KS

May 25, 1997Shawnee County, Kansas

NWS Topeka, KS issued this tornado warning at May 25, 1997, 8:54 PM CDT for Shawnee County, Kansas. It was in force for 31 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: May 25, 1997, 8:54 PM CDT (01:54 UTC)
Expired: May 25, 1997, 9:25 PM CDT
In force: 31 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 01:54 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.

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, 1.9 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.

305 
WFUS1 KTOP 260154 RRA
TORTOP
KSC177-260225-

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

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
     WESTERN SHAWNEE COUNTY - EAST CENTRAL KANSAS

* UNTIL 925 PM CDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
     WILLARD
     ROSSVILLE
     DOVER

* AT 850 PM A TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED A TORNADO 20 MILES WEST OF
  TOPEKA...OR JUST SOUTH OF MAPLE HILL MOVING EAST AT 5 TO 10 MPH.

* THE STORM WILL BE NEAR
     WILLARD AROUND 910 PM

* REPORTS
     SEVERE REPORTS OF FUNNELS AND TORNADO TOUCHDOWNS HAVE BEEN
     REPORTED WEST AND NORTHWEST OF DOVER NEAR KEENE.

THE CITY OF TOPEKA IS NOT INCLUDED IN THIS WARNING.
 
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.

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, 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, 9:20 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Shawnee	30 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.