Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 2001
Tornado Warning 14, NWS Hastings, NE
NWS Hastings, NE issued this tornado warning at May 20, 2001, 4:21 PM CDT for Phillips County, Kansas. It was in force for 24 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- May 20, 2001, 4:21 PM CDT (21:21 UTC)
- Expired
- May 20, 2001, 4:45 PM CDT
- In force
- 24 min
- Issued by
- NWS Hastings, NE
- Area
- Whole counties
County Phillips County, KS
The radar
The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 97 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:22 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.
The nearest sounding before it
N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 12:00Z, 9.4 hours before the alert went out and 183 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 73 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -210 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 931 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 10 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 30 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 59 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WFUS53 KGID 202121 TORGRI KSC147-202145- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 421 PM CDT SUN MAY 20 2001 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HASTINGS HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... SOUTHERN PHILLIPS COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS * UNTIL 445 PM CDT * AT 411 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO OVER LOGAN...OR ABOUT 15 MILES SOUTHWEST OF PHILLIPSBURG...MOVING SOUTH AT 40 MPH. PEOPLE IN SOUTHERN PHILLIPS COUNTY SHOULD TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY IN A BASEMENT OR SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT...SEEK SHELTER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS. $$ LAT...LON 3978 9945 3973 9968 3955 9959 3956 9905 NNNN
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at May 20, 2:50 PM CDT, 1 hour 31 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 20, 2:50 PM CDT, 1 hour 31 minutes before
SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 250 PM CDT SUN MAY 20 2001 COLD FRONT AND ITS IMPLICATIONS THE FOCUS OF THIS FORECAST. FRONT WAS SLICING ITS WAY ACROSS NW CWFA AT 19Z. BROKEN LINE OF SHOWERS/STORMS FORMING ALONG FRONT. THIS LINE SHOULD FILL IN AS DAYTIME HEATING CONTINUES TO DESTABILIZE THE ATMOSPHERE AND AS BETTER MOISTURE IS ENCOUNTERED. THIS LINE WILL ADD TO FAIRLY HEAVY RAIN AMOUNTS SCATTERED ACROSS SE CWFA. WILL BASE ZONE GROUPS ON TIMING OF THIS PCPN THIS EVENING. COULD NOT RULE OUT A SEVERE STORM PRODUCING HAIL BUT WILL NOT MENTION IN TEXT OF ZONES TONIGHT. NORTHWEST WINDS BEHIND THE FRONT WILL GUST TO AROUND 40 MPH THIS EVENING BUT DOUBT IF WIND ADVISORY CRITERION WILL BE REACHED. AS UPPER TROUGH AXIS PASSES OVERNIGHT...QUESTION AS TO WHETHER ADDITIONAL PCPN...NOW IN NW NEBR/SW SDAK/ERN WY AREA...WILL AFFECT CWFA. WHILE LOW LEVEL MOISTURE GETS SCOURED OUT...UPPER LEVEL DYNAMICS SHOULD BE EFFICIENT AT SQUEEZING OUT WHAT IS LEFT OVER. BEST OVERALL SETUP LOOKS TO BE OVER SOUTHWEST CWFA. WORDING WILL BE TRICKY FOR TIMING OF PCPN HOWEVER. HAVE REINTRODUCED SLGT CHC OF AFTERNOON SHOWERS MONDAY AS COLD POOL ALOFT PASSES BY. ETA FORECAST SOUNDINGS SHOW A LAYER OF LOW LEVEL MOISTURE AND STEEP LAPSE RATES. EVEN CAPES OF 100-200 J/KG ARE EVIDENT BY LATE IN THE DAY. SHOWERS/SQUALLS WILL HAVE POTENTIAL FOR WIND GUSTS TO 40 MPH. REST OF FORECAST PERIOD WILL REMAIN WITH DRY WORDING. MODELS HANDLING OF UPPER LOW INTO ERN US HAS COME INTO BETTER AGREEMENT... HOWEVER TIMING OF ANY IMPULSES ROTATING AROUND THE CENTER IS IN QUESTION AND MOISTURE AVAILABILITY APPEARS SUSPECT. TEMPWISE...ETA LOW LEVEL PROGS ARE WARMER AND APPEAR MORE REASONABLE THAN THE AVN/NGM. THIS FITS IN WITH RECENT RELEASE CONCERNING AVN LOW LEVEL COOL TEMP BIAS MENTIONED BY LBF IN COORDINATION CALL. THEREFORE MAV/FAN GUIDANCE THROWN OUT. EVEN THOUGH BASED ON THE NGM...WARMER FWC NUMBERS ACTUALLY MATCH ETA PROGS PRETTY WELL AND ARE PREFERRED. MORE SPECIFICALLY FOR TONIGHT...WINDS SHOULD KEEP AIR MIXED ENOUGH TO KEEP TEMPS FROM FALLING TOO FAR. .GID...NONE. DROZD
In the hours before
Special weather statement, May 20, 11:08 AM CDT, 5 hours 13 minutes before
KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-202100- SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK - SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 1108 AM CDT SUN MAY 20 2001 ...SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING ACROSS PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS... A COLD FRONT WILL DROP SOUTHWARD THROUGH CENTRAL NEBRASKA THIS AFTERNOON...AND THEN MAKE ITS WAY INTO NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS BY EARLY THIS EVENING. THIS FRONT WILL ROUGHLY BE POSITIONED FROM FULLERTON... TO GRAND ISLAND...TO HOLDREGE AT MID AFTERNOON...WITH SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED TO REDEVELOP ALONG AND SOUTH OF THIS FRONT. MARGINAL INSTABILITY ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS COULD ALLOW A FEW OF THESE STORMS TO APPROACH SEVERE LIMITS. THE MAIN SEVERE THREAT WITH THESE STORMS WOULD BE HAIL UP TO ONE INCH IN DIAMETER...ALTHOUGH SOME DAMAGING WINDS CANNOT BE RULED OUT. WITH THE COLD FRONT EXPECTED TO PUSH THROUGH THE AREA BY EARLY THIS EVENING...THE MAIN TIMING FOR ANY SEVERE WEATHER WOULD BE BETWEEN 2 PM AND 7 PM. EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS AND SPOTTER GROUPS ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAqL NEBRASKA AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS SHOULD KEEP APPRISED OF THE WEATHER SITUATION TODAY...AND BE PREPARED FOR THE POSSIBILITY OF ACTIVATION THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. GUYER
The office that day
Everything else NWS Hastings, NE issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 20, 4:17 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Phillips, Rooks | 43 min |
| May 20, 5:23 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | GID | Osborne, Rooks | 52 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Kansas, 2001Every tornado warning in 2001Tornadoes 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.