Alert archive / Missouri / Tornado Warnings in 2000

Tornado Warning 8, NWS Kansas City, MO

May 21, 2000Lafayette County, Missouri

NWS Kansas City, MO issued this tornado warning at May 21, 2000, 5:54 PM CDT for Lafayette County, Missouri. It was in force for 51 min. 3 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued
May 21, 2000, 5:54 PM CDT (22:54 UTC)
Expired
May 21, 2000, 6:45 PM CDT
In force
51 min
Issued by
NWS Kansas City, MO
Area
Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Lafayette County, MO

The radar

The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 61 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:54 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 21, 6:05 PM CDTTornado F1Lexington, MOA tornado, witnessed by two citizens, destroyed several outbuildings and damaged the roof of an earth-contact home 7 miles southeast of Lexington, MO.
May 21, 6:07 PM CDTHail 1Higginsville, MOThe same supercell storm that produced the tornado southeast of Lexington also produced dime to quarter size hail, which covered the ground in Higginsville.
May 21, 6:32 PM CDTThunderstorm Wind 60 EHigginsville, MOHighway Patrol officers estimated wind gusts up to 70 mph near mile marker 46 on Interstate 70.

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 12:00Z, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 171 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 2000-05-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 18 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, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 2000-05-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 148 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
18 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-164 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1217 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
148 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
160 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

689 
WFUS53 KEAX 212255
TORMCI
MOC107-212345-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY/PLEASANT HILL MO
554 PM CDT SUN MAY 21 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PLEASANT HILL HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  EASTERN LAFAYETTE COUNTY IN WEST CENTRAL MISSOURI

* UNTIL 645 PM CDT

* AT 554 PM CDT...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  DEVELOPING TORNADO 4 MILES EAST OF LEXINGTON...OR 31 MILES NORTH OF
  WARRENSBURG...MOVING SOUTH AT 15 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  DOVER AT 600 PM CDT
  HIGGINSVILLE AT 625 PM CDT
  CONCORDIA AT 645 PM CDT

WHEN A TORNADO WARNING IS ISSUED BASED ON DOPPLER RADAR...IT MEANS
THAT STRONG ROTATION HAS BEEN DETECTED IN THE STORM. A TORNADO MAY
NOT BE OCCURRING WHEN THE WARNING IS ISSUED...BUT ONE IS EXPECTED TO
DEVELOP. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS DANGEROUS STORM...MOVE
INDOORS AND TO THE LOWEST LEVEL OF THE BUILDING. STAY AWAY FROM
WINDOWS. IF DRIVING...DO NOT DRIVE INTO THIS STORM AND DO NOT SEEK
SHELTER UNDER A HIGHWAY OVERPASS

LAT...LON 3921 9354 3918 9390 3894 9383 3895 9351

The office that day

Everything else NWS Kansas City, MO issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 21, 3:05 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAXJackson40 min
May 21, 3:23 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAXCass52 min
May 21, 3:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAXGrundy, Mercer, Sullivan45 min
May 21, 4:02 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAXCass43 min
May 21, 4:08 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAXCaldwell, Carroll, Ray52 min
May 21, 4:22 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAXBates53 min
May 21, 4:32 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAXGrundy, Livingston58 min
May 21, 4:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAXCass12 min
May 21, 5:01 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAXLafayette, Ray59 min
May 21, 5:06 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAXBates54 min
May 21, 5:33 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAXGrundy, Livingston57 min
May 21, 6:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAXBates15 min
May 21, 6:33 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAXJohnson57 min
May 21, 6:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAXLafayette30 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Missouri, 2000Every tornado warning in 2000Tornadoes in 2000

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.