Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2001

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 297, NWS Kansas City, MO

September 20, 2001Doniphan County, Kansas; Holt County, Missouri

NWS Kansas City, MO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 20, 2001, 5:20 PM CDT for Doniphan County, Kansas; Holt County, Missouri. It was in force for 40 min. 1 report 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: Sep 20, 2001, 5:20 PM CDT (22:20 UTC)
Expired: Sep 20, 2001, 6:00 PM CDT
In force: 40 min
Issued by: NWS Kansas City, MO
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

Counties Doniphan County, KS, Holt County, MO

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 140 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:21 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

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Sep 20, 5:40 PM CDT	Hail 0.75	Oregon, MO

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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Sep 20, 3:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 12:00Z, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 112 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: 773 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -197 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1179 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 258 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 314 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 4.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

811 
WUUS53 KEAX 202220
SVRMCI
KSC043-MOC087-202300-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY/PLEASANT HILL MO
520 PM CDT THU SEP 20 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PLEASANT HILL HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  NORTHERN DONIPHAN COUNTY IN NORTHEAST KANSAS
  SOUTHERN HOLT COUNTY IN NORTHWEST MISSOURI

* UNTIL 600 PM CDT

* AT 520 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER OREGON...OR ABOUT 20 MILES NORTHWEST OF ST
  JOSEPH...MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  TROY AT 525 PM CDT
  WATHENA AT 540 PM CDT

THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL LIKELY PRODUCE HAIL UP TO 1 INCH IN
DIAMETER...AND WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH. FOR YOUR SAFETY...MOVE
INDOORS AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS. REMEMBER...LIGHTNING IS A THREAT
FROM ALL THUNDERSTORMS. HEAVY RAINS CAN CAUSE LOCALIZED FLOODING OF
LOW LYING AREAS.

IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER FROM THE WEATHER IN A STRONG
BUILDING. DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN...AND DEADLY
LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. STAY INSIDE AWAY
FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.

LAT...LON 4005 9533 3981 9528 3976 9493 3989 9496
          4005 9509

$$

18

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 Kansas City, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Sep 20, 2:30 AM CDT, 14 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 20, 2:30 AM CDT, 14 hours 50 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY/PLEASANT HILL MO
230 AM CDT THU SEP 20 2001

MAIN STORY TDY WILL BE THE UPPER LOW SPINNING DOWN IN NW FLOW.
SCENARIO SEEMS TO BE SETTING UP FOR A QUICK SVR WX EVNT.  SHUD SEE A
WARM SECTOR IN NERN MO...AND STRONG THETA/E ADV WILL RAISE DPTS AT
H8 ABOUT 7 DEG DURING THE DAY. SO ELEVATED CONVECTION POSSIBLE THERE
BY MID AFTERNOON.  THEN AHD OF THE COLD FRONT...LAPSE RATES NEAR 8
DEG CAPES 2500 J/KG LI/S AT LEAST 7.  GOOD DIVERGENCE AT 200MB
TOO.  SOMETHING OF A TRIPLE POINT SHUD SET UP...AND SHUD SEE TSRA
BREAK OUT BY MID AFTN IN THE NWRN CWA. WILL PROBABLY GO AHD AND UP
POPS FOR ALL ZONES...LIKELY POPS UP THERE IN THE NW.  AND HIGH CHC
POPS EVERYWHERE EXCEPT SERN ZONES.  THE FARTHER SOUTH YOU GET...
RUNNING INTO THE EITHER-SIDE-OF-00Z-PRBLM. SO THE SERN ZONES WILL
GET THEIR LIKELY DURING THE EVENING HOURS.  SHUD BE ABLE TO GO A
LITTLE ABV GUID TEMPS FOR THIS AFTERNOON.

WILL CLEAR OUT RATHER QUICKLY BEHIND THIS FAST MOVING SYSTEM. WILL
PROBABLY ONLY LEAVE EARLY FRI MORNING POPS IN SERN ZONES.

ONLY OTHER CHNGS WILL POSSIBLY BE TO SPEED UP WEEKEND SYSTEM.
NEWEST AVN MAKES IT MORE OF A SAT NITE RATHER THAN SUNDAY EVENT.
WILL TAKE A LOOK AT EXTENDED PROGS AS THEY COME IN.

.EAX...
KS...NONE.
MO...NONE.

LVQ

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Sep 20, 1:00 PM CDT, 4 hours 20 minutes before

KSZ025-057-060-102>105-MOZ001>008-011>017-020>025-028>033-037>040-
043>046-053-054-211100-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE KANSAS CITY-PLEASANT HILL MO
100 PM CDT THU SEP 20 2001

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...

FORECAST: THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING
ACROSS MUCH OF EASTERN KANSAS AS WELL AS NORTHERN AND CENTRAL
MISSOURI. SOME OF THESE STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE WITH DAMAGING WINDS
AND LARGE HAIL...MAINLY BETWEEN 3 AND 9 PM. AN ISOLATED TORNADO WILL
ALSO BE POSSIBLE THROUGH EARLY THIS EVENING. SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY
BE NECESSARY.

DISCUSSION: A COLD FRONT WILL PUSH INTO EASTERN KANSAS AND NORTHWEST
MISSOURI LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH THIS EVENING. WARM MOIST AIR
AHEAD OF THIS FRONT WILL ALLOW THE ATMOSPHERE TO BECOME UNSTABLE.
THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE ALONG AND AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT AS
IT MOVES INTO THE REGION. THIS FRONT IS EXPECTED TO MOVE INTO
EASTERN MISSOURI BY MIDNIGHT...ENDING THE THREAT FOR THUNDERSTORMS.

OUTLOOK:  ANOTHER STORM SYSTEM IS EXPECTED TO APPROACH THE PLAINS
SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY.  PRESENT INDICATIONS WOULD POINT TOWARDS
CONDITIONS UNFAVORABLE FOR SEVERE WEATHER.

FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION, CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT
HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/EAX

MS

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 20, 6:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Leavenworth	46 min
Sep 20, 6:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Miami	49 min
Sep 20, 5:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Andrew	48 min
Sep 20, 6:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Carroll, Ray	39 min
Sep 20, 6:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Chariton, Saline	51 min
Sep 20, 6:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Lafayette	51 min
Sep 20, 6:32 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	EAX	Andrew, Buchanan	43 min
Sep 20, 6:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Cooper, Howard	58 min
Sep 20, 6:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Clinton, DeKalb	48 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kansas, 2001 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Missouri, 2001 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2001

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.