Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1999

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 59, NWS Dodge City, KS

May 20, 1999Clark County, Meade County, Kansas

NWS Dodge City, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 20, 1999, 5:49 PM CDT for Clark County, Meade County, Kansas. It was in force for 46 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: May 20, 1999, 5:49 PM CDT (22:49 UTC)
Expired: May 20, 1999, 6:35 PM CDT
In force: 46 min
Issued by: NWS Dodge City, KS
Area: Whole counties

Counties Clark County, KS, Meade County, KS

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 59 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:50 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
May 20, 6:05 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Fowler, KS
May 20, 6:20 PM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 65	Ashland, KS	4 inch diameter tree limbs down.

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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 20, 3:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 12:00Z, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 62 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: 857 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -97 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 828 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 171 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 180 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

999 
WUUS1 KDDC 202250 RRA
SVRDDC
KSC025-119-202335-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
549 PM CDT THU MAY 20 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DODGE CITY HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  CLARK COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN KANSAS
  EASTERN MEADE COUNTY IN SOUTHWESTERN KANSAS

* UNTIL 635 PM CDT

* AT 547 PM CDT... DODGE CITY DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 2 MILES SOUTHWEST OF MEADE... MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  MEADE                        BY 555 PM
  FOWLER                       BY 600 PM
  MINNEOLA                     BY 615 PM
  ENGLEWOOD                    BY 620 PM

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM.  IF YOU ARE IN ITS PATH...EXPECT WINDS
OF 75 MPH OR GREATER...HAIL LARGER THAN ONE INCH IN DIAMETER AND
TORRENTIAL RAIN.  SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY AND STAY AWAY FROM
WINDOWS.  HEAVY RAIN CAN FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY.  YOU SHOULD NEVER TRY
TO CROSS WATER COVERED ROADS.

A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT.  SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND
OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO ADVANCED
WARNING.

$$

GERARD/BURGERT

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 Dodge City, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 20, 3:21 PM CDT, 2 hours 28 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 20, 3:21 PM CDT, 2 hours 28 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
321 PM CDT THU MAY 20 1999

...PBLM WL BE SVR WX THIS AFTN AND THIS EVE...

ELEVATED SVR TSTMS ALRDY POPPING IN NRN ZNS AND PER COORD WITH SPC
HV WS300 FOR THAT AREA WITH WT301 FOR SRN ZNS E OF A GCK/LBL LINE.
MID AND UPR WND PROFILE NOT GREAT TO S AND SE WHERE MAY SEE SOME
IMPINGEMENT BY DRY LINE BULGE S OF SFC LO BUT CANT ARGUE WITH CHC
FOR A TOR GIVEN DVLPMT OF DRY LINE SUPERCELLS.  DO BLV IT WLD ONLY
BRIEFLY BE TORNADIC AND TURN RAPIDLY HP.

ALL THIS IN RESPONSE TO STEEP LAPSE RATES ALOFT HI SBCAPES ALG DRY
LINE AND H5 S/WV MOVG THRU RGN THIS EVE THO MOST ACTIVITY SHD BE OVR
AS SBSDNC BHND THE WV TAKES OVER.

IN LTR PDS MANY QSTNS ABOUT CLRG AS SFC LOW TRACKS S AND THEN E ALG
KS/OK BRDR TNGT ALLOWING COOL SURGE TO SINK S ACRS ALL MY ZNS BY
MRNG.  AFT THAT COOL HIGH DOMINATES THRU FRI WITH RETURN FLOW
SETTING UP FRI NGT INTO SAT.  ALTHO RETURN FLOW WL LIKELY PUT THE
JUICE BACK IN PLACE BY SATURDAY A STRONG WARM H5 RDG SETS UP ACROSS
THE SRN AND CNTRL PLNS EFFECTIVELY KILLING ANY CHC FOR MUCH MORE
THAN POP CORN CNVCTN.  NGTLY CNVCTN MOVG E OUT OF ROCKIES IS A
PSBLTY BUT THATS A WAYS DOWN THE ROAD AND RATHER DOUBTFUL ATTM.

FOR XTND FCST HV NOT HAD MUCH TIME TO LOOK DUE TO ONGOING SVR THUS
WL NOT CHG MUCH FM MRF AND FMR.  DEATH RIDGE OVR PLAINS SAT AND SUN
WITH NW FLOW DVLPG FM SUN EVE ONWARD SO CANNOT DISCOUNT CHC FOR NW
FLOW STORMS IN RESIDUAL MOISTURE...OR SW MONSOON COMING UP ACRS NM
DUE TO CUT OFF H5 LOW IN FAR SW US.

PRELIMINARY GUIDANCE FOR COORDINATION ONLY. OFFICIAL FORECASTS ARE
CONTAINED WITHIN THE DODGE CITY ZONE FORECAST.

DDC 054/076 056/083 056 700
GCK 053/076 055/084 055 700
EHA 053/075 055/085 057 700
LBL 055/077 057/085 057 700
HYS 057/077 058/082 056 800
P28 061/079 059/082 060 610

.DDC...NONE.

JOHNSON

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 20, 1:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Trego	33 min
May 20, 1:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Lane	33 min
May 20, 2:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Trego	33 min
May 20, 4:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Rush	47 min
May 20, 4:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Stevens	32 min
May 20, 4:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Seward	46 min
May 20, 4:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Pawnee	49 min
May 20, 5:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Haskell, Meade, Seward	48 min
May 20, 5:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Gray	46 min
May 20, 6:38 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Clark, Comanche	47 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kansas, 1999 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1999

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.