Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Watches in 1999

Tornado Watch 273

May 16, 199934 counties in Kansas; 6 counties in Missouri

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 16, 1999, 4:00 PM CDT for 34 counties in Kansas; 6 counties in Missouri. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 16, 1999, 4:00 PM CDT (21:00 UTC)
Expired
May 16, 1999, 10:00 PM CDT
In force
6 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 40 counties

Anderson County, KS, Atchison County, KS, Brown County, KS, Chase County, KS, Clay County, KS, Cloud County, KS, Coffey County, KS, Dickinson County, KS, Doniphan County, KS, Douglas County, KS, Franklin County, KS, Geary County, KS, Jackson County, KS, Jefferson County, KS, Johnson County, KS, Leavenworth County, KS, Lyon County, KS, Marion County, KS, Marshall County, KS, McPherson County, KS, Miami County, KS, Morris County, KS, Nemaha County, KS, Osage County, KS, Ottawa County, KS, Pottawatomie County, KS, Republic County, KS, Rice County, KS, Riley County, KS, Saline County, KS, Shawnee County, KS, Wabaunsee County, KS, Washington County, KS, Wyandotte County, KS, Andrew County, MO, Buchanan County, MO, Clay County, MO, Clinton County, MO, DeKalb County, MO, Platte County, MO

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 40 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:04 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.

Warnings issued inside it

18 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 16, 5:18 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPClay, Riley32 min
May 16, 5:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPMarshall, Pottawatomie, Riley43 min
May 16, 5:43 PM CDTTornado WarningTOPDickinson32 min
May 16, 5:58 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPDickinson32 min
May 16, 6:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPMarshall45 min
May 16, 6:14 PM CDTTornado WarningTOPDickinson46 min
May 16, 6:19 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPGeary, Riley31 min
May 16, 6:28 PM CDTTornado WarningICTMarion62 min
May 16, 6:49 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPGeary, Morris31 min
May 16, 6:57 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPDickinson33 min
May 16, 7:18 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPMarshall, Nemaha37 min
May 16, 7:20 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPMorris40 min
May 16, 7:26 PM CDTTornado WarningICTMarion64 min
May 16, 8:15 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPShawnee45 min
May 16, 8:19 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPMarshall41 min
May 16, 8:23 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPDickinson, Geary37 min
May 16, 8:40 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPNemaha25 min
May 16, 8:42 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTMcPherson, Marion63 min

The nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 12:00Z, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 90 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, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 1999-05-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 3044 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 1999-05-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 562 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
3044 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-186 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
631 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
562 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
521 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
4.9

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.

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 15, 9:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBrown, Clay, Cloud, Jackson, Jewell, Marshall and 8 more6 hr
May 16, 6:30 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCBarber, Butler, Chautauqua, Comanche, Cowley, Elk and 9 more7 hr
May 16, 3:00 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAtchison, Gentry, Harrison, Holt, Nodaway, Worth6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Kansas, 1999Tornado Watches in Missouri, 1999Every tornado watch 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.