Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Watches in 1999

Tornado Watch 310

May 22, 199924 counties in Kansas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 22, 1999, 5:45 PM CDT for 24 counties in Kansas. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 22, 1999, 5:45 PM CDT (22:45 UTC)
Expired: May 22, 1999, 10:00 PM CDT
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 24 counties

Clark County, KS, Comanche County, KS, Edwards County, KS, Finney County, KS, Ford County, KS, Grant County, KS, Gray County, KS, Greeley County, KS, Hamilton County, KS, Haskell County, KS, Hodgeman County, KS, Kearny County, KS, Kiowa County, KS, Lane County, KS, Meade County, KS, Morton County, KS, Ness County, KS, Pawnee County, KS, Rush County, KS, Scott County, KS, Seward County, KS, Stanton County, KS, Stevens County, KS, Wichita County, KS

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 83 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:44 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 22, 6:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Greeley, Wichita	58 min
May 22, 6:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Morton	33 min
May 22, 7:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Scott	47 min
May 22, 8:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Ellis, Ness, Rush	43 min
May 22, 8:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Pawnee, Rush	46 min
May 22, 8:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Hodgeman	46 min
May 22, 9:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Edwards	47 min
May 22, 9:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Pawnee	16 min

The nearest sounding before it

Denver, CO (KDNR), launched 12:00Z, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 291 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: 160 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -447 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1826 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 30 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 74 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

999 
WWUS9 KMKC 222219
SEL0  
MKC WW 222219
KSZ000-230300-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 310
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
519 PM CDT SAT MAY 22 1999

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   SOUTHWEST KANSAS                             

EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 545 PM UNTIL
1000 PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 60 STATUTE MILES EITHER SIDE OF
A LINE FROM 35 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF LAMAR COLORADO TO 50 MILES
EAST OF DODGE CITY KANSAS.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 306...WW 307...WW
308...WW 309...

DISCUSSION...SUPERCELLS AND POSSIBLE TORNADOES ARE LIKELY TO
DEVELOP EWD INTO HIGHER DEW POINTS IN SWRN KS.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 3 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 550. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 29025.


...JOHNS

384,1020 383,0990 365,0990 370,1020

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 22, 4:15 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Cheyenne, Cloud, Decatur, Ellis, Ellsworth, Gove and 20 more	6 hr
May 22, 6:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Brown, Clay, Dickinson, Geary, Jackson, Jefferson and 9 more	4 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Kansas, 1999 Every 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.