Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 1999
Tornado Warning 11, NWS Goodland, KS
NWS Goodland, KS issued this tornado warning at Jun 3, 1999, 7:00 PM CDT for Norton County, Kansas. It was in force for 50 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
- Jun 3, 1999, 7:00 PM CDT (00:00 UTC)
- Expired
- Jun 3, 1999, 7:50 PM CDT
- In force
- 50 min
- Issued by
- NWS Goodland, KS
- Area
- Whole counties
County Norton County, KS
The radar
The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 138 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:02 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 3, 7:00 PM CDT | Hail 1.75 | Norton, KS | |
| Jun 3, 7:00 PM CDT | Tornado F3 | Norton, KS | A large tornado dropped down just east of the town of Norton and stayed on the ground for approximately 10 miles before finally lifting north-northeast of the town of Almena. This Tornado reached around 3/4 of a mile wide at times and did major (F3) damage to |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 3, 4:00 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 00:00Z, 0.0 hours before the alert went out and 161 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2027 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -76 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1167 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 39 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 160 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 202 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.2
- Supercell composite
- 12.9
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KGLD 040001 RRA TORGLD KSC137-040050- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 600 PM MDT (700 PM CDT) THU JUN 3 1999 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GOODLAND HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... NORTHEASTERN NORTON COUNTY IN NORTHWESTERN KANSAS * UNTIL 750 PM CDT (650 PM MDT) * AT 659 PM CDT... GOODLAND DOPPLER RADAR AND SPOTTER REPORTS A DEVELOPING TORNADO 11 MILES EAST OF NORTON OR 2 MILES SOUTHEAST OF ALMENA... MOVING NORTHEAST AT 15 MPH. THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO AFFECT... RURAL RESIDENTS AND MOTORISTS IN THE WARNED AREA GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR! BULLER &
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Goodland, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Jun 3, 3:35 PM CDT, 3 hours 25 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jun 3, 3:35 PM CDT, 3 hours 25 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
235 PM MDT (335 PM CDT) THU JUN 3 1999
THE UPPER LOW WAS DRIFTING SOUTH OVER CALIFORNIA EARLY THIS
AFTERNOON. THE AVN...NGM AND ETA HAVE VERIFIED THE POSITION OF THE
LOW QUITE WELL THROUGH 3/18Z. THIS SYSTEM WAS BECOMING CUT OFF FROM
THE FLOW AND SHOULD LINGER OVER THE SOUTHWEST UNTIL ANOTHER SYSTEM
EJECTS THE CUT OFF LOW EAST BY EARLY SUNDAY ACCORDING TO MODEL
CONSENSUS.
AHEAD OF THIS SYSTEM...GULF MOISTURE HAS BEEN SPREADING NORTH ACROSS
THE FORECAST AREA. THE NGM AND AVN HAVE BEEN TOO DRY THE LAST
SEVERAL RUNS...INCLUDING THIS MORNINGS RUNS. SO HAVE CHOSEN THE ETA
AS THE MODEL OF CHOICE...WHICH IS STILL TOO DRY. DEW POINTS 65-70
EAST OF A LINE FROM IML TO CBK. THE AIRMASS HAS BECOME VERY UNSTABLE
WITH LIS NEAR -10 NEAR HLC.
MAJOR QUESTION IS IF AND WHEN THE CAP WILL BREAK. MODIFIED SOUNDING
INDICATED THE CAP SHOULD BREAK BY 00Z. LOOK FOR TO CONVECTION TO
INITIATE ALONG THE DRY LINE BY THIS EVENING AND THEN MOVE EAST.
GIVEN RELATIVELY WARM MID LEVEL TEMPS...EXPECT OVERALL COVERAGE TO
REMAIN SCATTERED. GIVEN SIGNIFICANT VEERING IN THE LOWER
LEVELS...AND PER COORDINATION WITH SPC...WILL HIGHLIGHT TORNADOES
MOST ZONES FOR THIS EVENING.
FOR FRIDAY...EXPECT VERY LITTLE CHANGE WITH MAINLY EVENING
THUNDERSTORMS.
FOR SATURDAY...THE NGM WAS THE ODD MODEL OUT IN EJECTING THE UPPER
LEVEL SYSTEM TOO FAST AND BRINGING COOLER AIR IN ON SATURDAY. EXPECT
TEMPERATURES SHOULD BE ABOVE 75 DEGREES.
.GLD...TORNADO WATCH UNTIL 9 PM MDT (10 PM CDT) FOR ALL OF NORTHWEST
KANSAS COUNTIES EXCEPT GREELEY.
SKIPPERIn the hours before
Local storm report, Jun 3, 6:26 PM CDT, 34 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
526 PM MDT THU JUN 03 1999
TIME(MDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0517 PM 15 S NORTON KS .75 INCH HAIL
06/03/99 NORTON
SULLIVANLocal storm report, Jun 3, 6:26 PM CDT, 34 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
526 PM MDT THU JUN 03 1999
TIME(MDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0517 PM 15 S NORTON KS .75 INCH HAIL
06/03/99 NORTON
SULLIVANLocal storm report, Jun 3, 6:46 PM CDT, 14 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
546 PM MDT THU JUN 03 1999
TIME(MDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0532 PJM 3 E NORTON KS 1 INCH HAIL
06/03/99 NORTON
0544 PM 1 SW CALVERT KS .75 INCH HAIL
06/03/99 NORTON
SULLIVANLocal storm report, Jun 3, 6:46 PM CDT, 14 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
546 PM MDT THU JUN 03 1999
TIME(MDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0532 PJM 3 E NORTON KS 1 INCH HAIL
06/03/99 NORTON
0544 PM 1 SW CALVERT KS .75 INCH HAIL
06/03/99 NORTON
SULLIVANLocal storm report, Jun 3, 6:54 PM CDT, 6 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
554 PM MDT THU JUN 03 1999
TIME(MDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0549 PM 1 SW CALVERT KS 1.75 INCH HAIL
06/03/99 NORTON
SULLIVANLocal storm report, Jun 3, 6:54 PM CDT, 6 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
554 PM MDT THU JUN 03 1999
TIME(MDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0549 PM 1 SW CALVERT KS 1.75 INCH HAIL
06/03/99 NORTON
SULLIVANNearby
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.