Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Dodge City, KS

May 31, 1999Comanche County, Kansas

NWS Dodge City, KS issued this tornado warning at May 31, 1999, 7:46 PM CDT for Comanche County, Kansas. It was in force for 34 min. 4 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 31, 1999, 7:46 PM CDT (00:46 UTC)
Expired
May 31, 1999, 8:20 PM CDT
In force
34 min
Issued by
NWS Dodge City, KS
Area
Whole counties

County Comanche County, KS

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 88 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:46 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 31, 7:50 PM CDTTornado F1Protection, KSMature cottonwood grove taken out.
May 31, 7:55 PM CDTHail 2.5Protection, KS
May 31, 8:12 PM CDTHail 1Coldwater, KS
May 31, 8:30 PM CDTHail 1.75Coldwater, 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 watch it was issued in

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

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
May 31, 6:45 PM CDTTornado WatchSPC5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 00:00Z, 0.8 hours before the alert went out and 85 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 1999-06-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2285 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 1999-06-01The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 43 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
2285 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-11 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1047 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
51 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
43 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
187 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.4
Supercell composite
6.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KDDC 010046 RRA
TORDDC
KSC033-010120-

URGENT - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
746 PM CDT MON MAY 31 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DODGE CITY HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHWESTERN COMANCHE COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS

* UNTIL 820 PM CDT

* AT 745 PM CDT... DODGE CITY DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED THE MOST
  LIKELY AREA FOR A TORNADO 10 MILES WEST OF BUTTERMILK... MOVING
  EAST AT 25 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  BUTTERMILK                   BY 810 PM CDT

GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR!

SLEIGHTER/JOHNSON

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 31, 7:23 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCEllis47 min
May 31, 7:32 PM CDTTornado WarningDDCClark33 min
May 31, 7:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCComanche62 min
May 31, 7:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCClark32 min
May 31, 8:28 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCBarber62 min
May 31, 8:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCComanche46 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Kansas, 1999Every tornado warning in 1999Tornadoes 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.