Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Watches in 2000

Tornado Watch 771

October 31, 200031 counties in Kansas; 5 counties in Oklahoma; 6 counties in Texas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Oct 31, 2000, 2:30 PM CST for 31 counties in Kansas; 5 counties in Oklahoma; 6 counties in Texas. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Oct 31, 2000, 2:30 PM CST (20:30 UTC)
Expired: Oct 31, 2000, 9:00 PM CST
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 42 counties

Cheyenne County, KS, Clark County, KS, Decatur County, KS, Finney County, KS, Ford County, KS, Gove County, KS, Graham County, KS, Grant County, KS, Gray County, KS, Greeley County, KS, Hamilton County, KS, Haskell County, KS, Hodgeman County, KS, Kearny County, KS, Lane County, KS, Logan County, KS, Meade County, KS, Morton County, KS, Ness County, KS, Norton County, KS, Rawlins County, KS, Scott County, KS, Seward County, KS, Sheridan County, KS, Sherman County, KS, Stanton County, KS, Stevens County, KS, Thomas County, KS, Trego County, KS, Wallace County, KS, Wichita County, KS, Beaver County, OK, Ellis County, OK, Harper County, OK, Roger Mills County, OK, Texas County, OK, Hansford County, TX, Hemphill County, TX, Hutchinson County, TX, Lipscomb County, TX, Ochiltree County, TX, Roberts County, TX

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 110 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:33 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

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 31, 2:52 PM CST	Tornado Warning	GLD	Thomas	23 min
Oct 31, 2:58 PM CST	Tornado Warning	GLD	Wallace	47 min
Oct 31, 3:12 PM CST	Tornado Warning	GLD	Thomas	48 min
Oct 31, 3:26 PM CST	Tornado Warning	GLD	Sherman	49 min
Oct 31, 3:47 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Decatur	58 min
Oct 31, 3:55 PM CST	Tornado Warning	GLD	Decatur	50 min
Oct 31, 4:14 PM CST	Tornado Warning	GLD	Greeley, Sherman, Wallace	46 min
Oct 31, 4:19 PM CST	Tornado Warning	GLD	Cheyenne	41 min
Oct 31, 4:45 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hansford	60 min
Oct 31, 4:59 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Greeley, Wallace	61 min
Oct 31, 4:59 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Sherman	61 min
Oct 31, 5:01 PM CST	Tornado Warning	GLD	Cheyenne	44 min
Oct 31, 5:11 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hutchinson	64 min
Oct 31, 5:20 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Logan	25 min
Oct 31, 5:30 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Thomas	45 min
Oct 31, 5:45 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Stevens	45 min
Oct 31, 6:03 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hansford	42 min
Oct 31, 6:12 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Hutchinson	48 min
Oct 31, 6:29 PM CST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Rawlins	46 min
Oct 31, 6:41 PM CST	Tornado Warning	GLD	Rawlins	34 min

The nearest sounding before it

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 12:00Z, 8.5 hours before the alert went out and 115 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: 377 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -134 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 868 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 99 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 75 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.

897 
WWUS9 KMKC 312015
SEL1  

SEL1  
MKC WW 312008
COZ000-KSZ000-OKZ000-TXZ000-010300-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 771
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
208 PM CST TUE OCT 31 2000

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

   EASTERN COLORADO                           
   WESTERN KANSAS                             
   NORTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA                           
   NORTHERN TEXAS PANHANDLE                              

EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 230 PM UNTIL 900
PM CST.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 70 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 50 MILES NORTHEAST OF GOODLAND KANSAS TO 60 MILES
SOUTHWEST OF GAGE OKLAHOMA.

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.


DISCUSSION...THUNDERSTORMS ARE INCREASING RAPIDLY ALONG DRY LINE/
COLD FRONT NEAR CO/KS BORDER.  ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP
SOUTHWARD INTO TX PANHANDLE WITH TIME AND SPREAD NEWD INTO KS AND
NWRN OK.   STRONG DEEP LEVEL SHEAR SUGGESTS SUPERCELLS ARE POSSIBLE
WITH RISK OF DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL.  TORNADOES ARE ALSO
POSSIBLE IN AREAS OF INCREASED AND BACKED LOW LEVEL FLOW.  


AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 450. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 21035.


...JOHNS

395,0994 354,0991 354,1014 395,1022

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 31, 5:00 PM CST	Tornado Watch	SPC	Andrews, Armstrong, Borden, Briscoe, Carson, Castro and 26 more	5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Kansas, 2000 Tornado Watches in Texas, 2000 Tornado Watches in Oklahoma, 2000 Every tornado watch 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.