Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 189, NWS Topeka, KS

August 3, 1998Osage County, Kansas

NWS Topeka, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 3, 1998, 2:54 PM CDT for Osage County, Kansas. It was in force for 31 min. 2 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 3, 1998, 2:54 PM CDT (19:54 UTC)
Expired: Aug 3, 1998, 3:25 PM CDT
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Topeka, KS
Area: Whole counties

County Osage County, KS

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 58 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:57 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 3, 2:55 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Carbondale, KS
Aug 3, 3:20 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Scranton, 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

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 12:00Z, 7.9 hours before the alert went out and 39 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: 808 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -196 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1136 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 64 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 110 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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 Topeka, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Aug 3, 4:50 AM CDT, 10 hours 4 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 3, 4:50 AM CDT, 10 hours 4 minutes before

<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 3, 12:10 PM CDT, 2 hours 44 minutes before

KSZ011-012-023-024-026-038>040-054>056-058-059-032305-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
1210 PM CDT MON AUG 3 1998

STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING ACROSS PORTIONS OF NORTHEAST AND EAST CENTRAL KANSAS.

A FEW SEVERE STORMS MAY DEVELOP AHEAD OF A COLD FRONT EXTENDING
FROM NEAR SENECA TO WEST OF EMPORIA. THE BETTER CHANCES TO SEE
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS APPEAR ALONG AND EAST OF A LINE FROM OSKALOOSA
TO TOPEKA AND EMPORIA WHERE THE AIRMASS IS MORE UNSTABLE. THE MAIN
THREAT APPEARS TO BE LARGE HAIL AND STRONG STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS.

SYNOPSIS: AN UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM CURRENTLY OVER WESTERN KANSAS
WILL MOVE EASTWARD THIS AFTERNOON. THIS FEATURE WILL COMBINE WITH A
SURFACE COLD FRONT TO HELP TRIGGER ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS
PORTIONS OF EASTERN KANSAS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. WIND SHEAR
PROFILES DO NOT APPEAR FAVORABLE FOR TORNADOES...BUT THE AIRMASS
WILL BE UNSTABLE ENOUGH FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF LARGE HAIL AND STRONG
STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS.

BARLOW

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 3, 2:32 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Geary, Riley	33 min
Aug 3, 3:05 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Wabaunsee	25 min
Aug 3, 3:30 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Lyon, Osage, Wabaunsee	45 min
Aug 3, 2:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Osage, Shawnee	31 min
Aug 3, 3:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Osage	37 min
Aug 3, 3:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Jefferson, Shawnee	36 min
Aug 3, 3:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Osage	29 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.