Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1999

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 27, NWS Topeka, KS

May 4, 1999Brown County, Kansas

NWS Topeka, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 4, 1999, 8:46 PM CDT for Brown County, Kansas. It was in force for 34 min. 1 report 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 4, 1999, 8:46 PM CDT (01:46 UTC)
Expired
May 4, 1999, 9:20 PM CDT
In force
34 min
Issued by
NWS Topeka, KS
Area
Whole counties

County Brown County, KS

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 109 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:47 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 4, 8:58 PM CDTHail 0.75Hiawatha, 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 nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 00:00Z, 1.8 hours before the alert went out and 92 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 00:00Z on 1999-05-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 489 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 00:00Z on 1999-05-05The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 187 square meters per square second.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
489 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-53 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
851 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
64 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
187 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
211 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.4
Supercell composite
3.2

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.

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 Topeka, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 4, 2:54 PM CDT, 5 hours 52 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 4, 2:54 PM CDT, 5 hours 52 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
254 PM CDT TUE MAY 4 1999

SEVERE THREAT THIS EVENING...THEN FLOOD POTENTIAL MAIN FORECAST
CONCERNS.

TORNADIC THUNDERSTORMS OVER CENTRAL KANSAS WERE ROTATING NORTH
AROUND SURFACE LOW CENTERED NORTHWEST OF RUSSELL.  WARM FRONT
EXTENDING THROUGH CENTRAL KANSAS AIDING IN TORNADIC POTENTIAL.
EXPECT THESE STORMS TO CONTINUE ROTATING NORTH INTO NORTH CENTRAL
KANSAS.  AS THE STORMS MOVE FARTHER AWAY FROM THE WARM FRONT EXPECT
TORNADIC POTENTIAL TO DECREASE BUT SEVERE HAIL/WIND STILL POSSIBLE.

FARTHER EAST HEAVY RAIN HAS PUSHED OUT OF EASTERN SECTIONS OF THE
CWA...BUT WIDESPREAD 1 TO 3 INCH RAINFALL AMOUNTS WERE NOTED ON 88D
ESTIMATES AND ASOS OBS...MAINLY EAST OF A HIAWATHA TO COUNCIL GROVE
LINE.  RIVERS LIKELY TO FLOOD IN THESE AREAS...AND WITH ANY FURTHER
RAIN OVERNIGHT...EXPECT FLOODING POTENTIAL TO INCREASE.  THUS WILL
CONTINUE FLOOD WATCH TONIGHT BUT WILL TRIM WESTERN EDGE A BIT.

SURFACE LOW FORECAST TO MOVE NORTHEAST TONIGHT THEN MEANDER AROUND
THE NORTHERN PLAINS AS UPPER LOW GETS BLOCKED UP BY RIDGING TO THE
EAST AND WEST.  COLD FRONT TO MOVE THROUGH THE CWA OVERNIGHT AS LOW
SHIFTS NORTHEAST.  EXPECT ANOTHER SHOT AT CONVECTION AS THIS FEATURE
MOVES THROUGH HOWEVER DEEPER MOISTURE SHIFTS INTO MISSOURI.

AFTER TONIGHT EXPECT CHANCES FOR PRECIP TO BEGIN TO FADE AS
DRIER/COOLER SURFACE AIR SETTLES IN.  BUT CANT RULE OUT SHOWERS...
ESPECIALLY ON WEDNESDAY...AS SHORTWAVES PIVOT AROUND UPPER LOW.
WILL KEEP PRECIP OUT OF THURSDAY FOR NOW.

TEMPERATURES CERTAINLY WILL BE COOLER AS 850 TEMPS DIP TO 4 TO 6C.
FWC/FAN NUMBERS NOT TOO FAR OFF FROM EACH OTHER SO WILL NOT ARGUE
MUCH.

.TOP...FLOOD WATCH NORTHEAST KANSAS ZONES GENERALLY EAST OF A
       SENECA TO COUNCIL GROVE LINE TONIGHT.

SD

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 4, 7:20 PM CDT, 1 hour 26 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTION TO TIME OF TORNADO
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
720 PM CDT TUE MAY 04 1999

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0710 PM    4 NW EMMETT               KS    TORNADO
05/04/99   POTTAWATOMIE
Local storm report, May 4, 7:20 PM CDT, 1 hour 26 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
720 PM CDT TUE MAY 04 1999

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0630 PM    4 NW EMMETT               KS    TORNADO
05/04/99   POTTAWATOMIE
Local storm report, May 4, 7:20 PM CDT, 1 hour 26 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTION TO TIME OF TORNADO
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
720 PM CDT TUE MAY 04 1999

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0710 PM    4 NW EMMETT               KS    TORNADO
05/04/99   POTTAWATOMIE
Local storm report, May 4, 7:45 PM CDT, 1 hour 1 minute before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
745 PM CDT TUE MAY 04 1999

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0737 PM    5 SW SOLDIER              KS    TORNADO
05/04/99   JACKSON
Local storm report, May 4, 8:03 PM CDT, 43 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
803 PM CDT TUE MAY 04 1999

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0757 PM    1 S BANCROFT              KS    .75 INCH HAIL
05/04/99   NEMAHA
Local storm report, May 4, 8:27 PM CDT, 19 minutes before
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The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 4, 7:30 PM CDTTornado WarningTOPJackson, Nemaha, Pottawatomie40 min
May 4, 8:08 PM CDTTornado WarningTOPBrown, Jackson, Nemaha42 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kansas, 1999Every 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.