Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 233, NWS Wichita, KS

August 25, 1998Sedgwick County, Kansas

NWS Wichita, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 25, 1998, 4:42 PM CDT for Sedgwick County, Kansas. It was in force for 63 min. 5 reports 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: Aug 25, 1998, 4:42 PM CDT (21:42 UTC)
Expired: Aug 25, 1998, 5:45 PM CDT
In force: 63 min
Issued by: NWS Wichita, KS
Area: Whole counties

County Sedgwick County, KS

The radar

The Wichita radar (KICT), 4 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:43 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
Aug 25, 4:46 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 52	Derby, KS
Aug 25, 4:50 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 52	Derby, KS	Large birch tree blown down.
Aug 25, 5:05 PM CDT	Hail 1	Wichita, KS	Reported 2 miles northeast Mid-Continent airport.
Aug 25, 5:15 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 52	Wichita, KS	Reported 2 miles northeast Mid-Continent airport.
Aug 25, 5:17 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 63	Wichita, 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

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 12:00Z, 9.7 hours before the alert went out and 215 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: 1070 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -191 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 939 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 27 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 26 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KICT 252146 RRA
SVRICT
KSC173-252245-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING...CORRECTED HEADER
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
442 PM CDT TUE AUG 25 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WICHITA HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
     SEDGWICK COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS

* UNTIL 545 PM CDT

* AT 442 PM CDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 4 MILES EAST OF DERBY...OR ABOUT 14 MILES
  SOUTHEAST OF WICHITA...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 10 MILES PER HOUR.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED BY THE STORM INCLUDE...
     MCCONNELL AFB
     DERBY

REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. THEY
WILL RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST
OFFICE IN WICHITA.

WRC

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Wichita, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Aug 25, 3:48 PM CDT, 54 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 25, 3:48 PM CDT, 54 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
348 PM CDT TUE AUG 25 1998

...SHORT TERM...
MAIN CONCERN TO ADDRESS IN THE SHORT TERM IS CHANCE FOR PCPN. 18Z
SFC ANALYSIS INDICATES FRONTRAL BOUNDARY IS ACRS EXTREME SC/SE KS
WHICH SLOWEST NGM HAD BEST VERIFIED. LAPS DATA SHOWS CAPES IN EXCESS
OF 3500 J/KG ACRS EXTREME SE ZONES WHERE CONVECTION HAS ALREADY
FIRED. WITH HIGHEST INSTABILITY ACRS EXTREME SOUTHERN PTN OF CWA
WOULD EXPECTED SCT TRSA TO CONTINUE TO DEVELOP THIS EVENING...BUT
BE DIURNAL IN NATURE. MEANWHILE...CONVECTION IN NC KS ASSOCIATED
WITH 85H FRONT. ALL OF THIS SUGGESTS SCT POPS ACRS ENTIRE FORECAST
AREA THIS EVENING.

DURING THE OVERNIGHT HOURS WILL CONTINUE SCT POPS ACRS THE CWA AS
WATER VAPOR SAT PIX SHOW SHORTWAVE ACRS NEW MEXICO WHICH ALL MODELS
SEEM TO HAVE MISSED. QPF FIELDS DIFFER GREATLY BETWEEN MODELS AND
THIS IS BECAUSE ETA PUSHES 85H/SFC HIGH FARTHER EAST THAN
NGM/AVN...THUS ALLOWS A STRONGER SOUTHERLY FLOW TO CONVERGE WITH SFC
BOUNDARY. 6 HR ETA FCST OF SFC HIGH IS ALREADY TOO FAR EAST...SO WENT
WITH A NGM/AVN SOLUTION OF KEEPING MAIN PCPN ACRS WRN PTN OF CWA.
HOWEVER...EXPECT PCPN TO DEVELOP ACRS WRN KS AS SHORTWAVE APPROACHES
AND MOVE E-SE (PER 850-700 THICKNESS) ACRS ENTIRE CWA...WITH SE KS
SEEING PCPN LATEST IN THE NIGHT.

GUIDANCE TEMPS ON TARGET...ALTHOUGH LIKED WARMER FWC NUMBERS FOR
LOWS AS E-SE FLOW WOULD ADVECT HIGHER DWPTS INTO THE AREA.

HYSELL

...LONG TERM...
LATE AND ABBREVIATED DISCUSSION DUE TO ICWF FAILURE. PROB FOR TUE IS
SWRD EXTENT OF BOUNDARY GIVEN OVERNIGHT AND EARLY MORNING CONV.
SUSPECT ANY PRECIP WILL BREAK UP QUICKLY BY MIDDAY AS BEST SUPPORT
SHIFTS NW AND W. BY TUE NIGHT WILL COUNT ON BOUNDARY LIFTING NORTH
OF THE CWA...WITH BEST THREAT OF MCS NORTH IN NEB/IA/MO. WITH THIS
IN MIND EXPECT TEMPS TO AT LEAST CLIMB BACK INTO THE 90S. THU WARMER
AND DRY BEFORE NEXT BOUNDARY SAGS INTO KS THU NIGHT. AGREE WITH DDC
THAT BOUNDARY COULD HANG UP NEAR KS THROUGH THE WEEKEND...WITH
PRECIP CHANCES HIGHER THAN CURRENTLY INDICATED. CONFIDENCE LOW IN
ANY SCENARIO GIVEN POOR MODEL PERFORMANCE. AMOUNT OF COOLING HIGHLY
SUSPECT IN THE EXTENDED AND WILL KEEP NEAR 90 MAXES GOING.

PETERSEN

FCSTID = 3
ICT   72  93  71  96 /  30  30  10  10
HUT   70  93  71  95 /  30  30  10  10
EWK   72  93  71  95 /  30  30  10  10
EQA   71  93  71  95 /  30  30  10  10
WLD   72  93  70  97 /  20  30  10  10
RSL   69  90  70  95 /  30  30  10  10
GBD   70  91  70  95 /  30  30  10  10
SLN   73  91  70  95 /  30  30  10  10
MPR   72  91  71  95 /  30  30  10  10
CFV   73  94  70  97 /  30  30  10  10
CNU   73  93  70  95 /  30  30  10  10
K88   72  93  70  95 /  30  30  10  10

.ICT...NONE.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 25, 3:25 PM CDT, 1 hour 17 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
325 PM CDT TUE AUG 25 1998

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0259 PM    1 NW BURDEN               KS   0.75 INCH HAIL
08/25/98   COWLEY

DAVIS

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 25, 2:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Cowley	23 min
Aug 25, 3:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Cowley	56 min
Aug 25, 3:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Sumner	33 min
Aug 25, 4:09 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Kingman	31 min
Aug 25, 5:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Kingman	60 min
Aug 25, 5:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Reno	65 min
Aug 25, 5:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Harvey	66 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kansas, 1998 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1998

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.