Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 264, NWS Wichita, KS

September 29, 1998Elk County, Kansas

NWS Wichita, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 29, 1998, 6:02 PM CDT for Elk County, Kansas. It was in force for 43 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: Sep 29, 1998, 6:02 PM CDT (23:02 UTC)
Expired: Sep 29, 1998, 6:45 PM CDT
In force: 43 min
Issued by: NWS Wichita, KS
Area: Whole counties

County Elk County, KS

The radar

The Wichita radar (KICT), 108 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:05 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
Sep 29, 3:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 180 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: 407 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -374 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1305 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 328 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 350 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KICT 292305 RRA
SVRICT
KSC049-292345-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
602 PM CDT TUE SEP 29 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WICHITA HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
     ELK COUNTY IN SOUTHEAST KANSAS

* UNTIL 645 PM CDT

* AT 602 PM CDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 7 MILES NORTHEAST OF HOWARD...OR ABOUT 39 MILES WEST
  OF CHANUTE...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 15 MILES PER HOUR.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED BY THE STORM INCLUDE...
     HOWARD
     BUSBY
     LONGTON

HAIL UP TO ONE INCH IN DIAMETER AND WINDS GREATER THAN 55 MILES AN
HOUR ARE EXPECTED FROM THIS STORM. SEEK SHELTER JIN A STURDY STRUCTURE
UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.

DARMOFAL

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 Sep 29, 3:08 PM CDT, 2 hours 54 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 29, 3:08 PM CDT, 2 hours 54 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
308 PM CDT TUE SEP 29 1998

MAIN PROBLEM WILL BE TEMPERATURES.

AN UPPER LEVEL SUB TROPICAL HIGH REMAINS INTACT THROUGH F48 ACROSS
THE HIGH PLAINS OF TX WITH A DEEPENING LOW IN THE DESERT SOUTHWEST.
THE WIND FLOW PATTERN WILL ADVECT PLENTY OF MID LEVEL MOISTURE INTO
THE CWA BY F24.  THIS TREND SEEMS REASONABLE PER THE LATEST
SATTELITE PICTURES.

THE WEAK TROF OVER NORTHERN KS WILL WASH OUT OVERNIGHT AS LOW
PRESSURE DEVELOPS IN THE VICINITY OF CNK.  WITH DECENT SOUTH FLOW
ACROSS KS...I EXPECT THUNDERSTORMS TO FIRE ACROSS THE NORTHERN
SECTIONS OF KS AND SOUTHERN NE.  THICKNESS PATTERNS WOULD YIELD AN
EAST OR JUST SLIGHTLY SOUTH OF EAST MOVEMENT.  HOWEVER...PER THE
PAST COUPLE OF DAYS...I WILL KEEP SLIGHT CHANCE POPS FOR THE SC AND
SE SECTIONS DUE TO THE DIABATIC HEATING AND VERY UNSTABLE CONDITIONS
THIS AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE THE CHANCE INTO THE EVENING. CAPES ARE
PRESENTLY RUNNING AROUND 5000 JUST SOUTH OF THE BORDER WITH LI/S TO
MINUS 8.  THESE VALUES SHOULD INCREASE WITH MORE HEATING.

THE NGM PROG FOR FRONTAL POSTITION BY F36 HAS THE FRONT JUST THROUGH
CENTRAL KANSAS.  THIS POSITION SHOULD NOT HINDER TEMPERATURES IN THE
SC AND SE SECTIONS OF THE CWA AND SLIGHTLY OVER THE CENTRAL
SECTIONS.  THEREFORE...I MAY TEND TO BE SLIGHTLY WARMER THAN
GUIDANCE IN THE SOUTHERN HALF AND NEAR GUIDANCE IN THE CENTRAL
SECTIONS.  THE MODEL DOES NOT SEEM TO POOL ANY LOW LEVEL MOISTURE
AHEAD OF THE FRONT AT THIS TIME...HOWEVER...WITH STRONG DYNAMICAL
FORCING PRESENT...I WILL CARRY POPS THROUGH WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND
NIGHT.  WITH FRONTAL PASSAGE AT ALL AREAS BY F42 DECENT NORTHEAST
FLOW WILL PRODUCE SOME SLIGHT UPSLOPE...WHICH COMBINED WITH A
SATURATED ATMOSPHERE WILL INDUCE A THICK CLOUD DECK AND SOME
STRATIFORM TYPE PRECIPITATION.  COLD AIR...COMPARED TO THE PAST FEW
DAYS...WILL THEN SINK SOUTH OUT OF CANADA AND BRING A DRASTIC CHANGE
FOR THE CWA.  I AM A BIT HESITANT TOO DROP TEMPERATURES AS MUCH AS
GUIDANCE SUGGESTS...HOWEVER...ALL MODELS DO AGREE WITH SIMILAR
READINGS.

EXTENDED...
I WILL TRIM THE TEMPERATURES BACK A BIT DUE TO THE COLD AIR WHICH IS
FILTERING INTO THE CWA.  RETURN FLOW SHOULD WARM THE TEMPERATURES
BACK TO NORMAL SATURDAY AND SUNDAY.

CHANCE

FCSTID = 1
ICT   68  87  56  66 /  20  30  50  30
HUT   64  83  52  64 /  30  50  30  30
EWK   64  83  52  64 /  30  50  30  30
EQA   68  87  56  66 /  20  30  50  30
WLD   69  88  57  67 /  20  30  50  30
RSL   63  80  50  61 /  30  50  30  30
GBD   64  80  50  61 /  30  50  30  30
SLN   64  82  51  63 /  30  50  30  30
MPR   64  83  52  64 /  30  50  30  30
CFV   67  88  56  67 /  20  30P  40  30
CNU   66  87  55  66 /  20  30  40  30
K88   66  87  55  66 /  20  30  40  30

.ICT...NONE.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Sep 29, 4:14 PM CDT, 1 hour 48 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
414 PM CDT TUE SEP 29 1998

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

0335 PM    9 W ELMDALE               KS   60 MPH TSTM GUST
09/29/98   CHASE                          REPORTED BY CITIZEN

HYSELL

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 28, 9:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Barton	61 min
Sep 29, 2:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Marion	38 min
Sep 29, 3:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Chase	53 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.