Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Hastings, NE

April 11, 2001Smith County, Kansas

NWS Hastings, NE issued this tornado warning at Apr 11, 2001, 12:24 AM CDT for Smith County, Kansas. It was in force for 51 min. 4 reports 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: Apr 11, 2001, 12:24 AM CDT (05:24 UTC)
Expired: Apr 11, 2001, 1:15 AM CDT
In force: 51 min
Issued by: NWS Hastings, NE
Area: Whole counties

County Smith County, KS

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Apr 11, 12:24 AM CDT	Tornado F1	Gaylord, KS
Apr 11, 12:32 AM CDT	Tornado F0	Dispatch, KS	Entered from Osborne county and exited to Jewell county
Apr 11, 12:45 AM CDT	Thunderstorm Wind 50 M	Smith Center, KS
Apr 11, 12:49 AM CDT	Tornado F0	Cora, 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 watch it was issued in

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

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Apr 10, 10:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 00:00Z, 5.4 hours before the alert went out and 214 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 904 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 66 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 17 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 137 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.

343 
WFUS53 KGID 110524
TORGRI
KSC183-110615-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
1224 AM CDT WED APR 11 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HASTINGS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SMITH COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS

* UNTIL 115 AM CDT

* AT 1220 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  DEVELOPING TORNADO 7 MILES SOUTHWEST OF CEDAR...OR ABOUT 19 MILES
  SOUTHEAST OF PHILLIPSBURG...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.

* TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  CEDAR AT 1230 AM CDT
  ATHOL AT 1235 AM CDT
  SMITH CENTER AT 1245 AM CDT
  BELLAIRE AT 1250 AM CDT

PEOPLE IN SMITH COUNTY SHOULD TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY IN A BASEMENT
OR SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  THIS STORM PRODUCED 
EXTENSIVE DAMAGE AS IT MOVED THROUGH ROOKS COUNTY. 

IF IN A MOBILE HOME...LEAVE IT IMMEDIATELY AND GET INSIDE A STURDY
SHELTER. IF NO SHELTER IS AVAILABLE...LIE FLAT IN THE NEAREST DITCH
AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

$$

LAT...LON 3981 9904 3957 9899 3958 9873 3997 9852
          3999 9881

DDN

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 Apr 10, 1:45 PM CDT, 10 hours 39 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 10, 1:45 PM CDT, 10 hours 39 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
145 PM CDT TUE APR 10 2001

...TSRA POTENTIAL THE NEXT 24 HRS IS THE MAIN CONCERN...

SMALL...BUT RELATIVELY POTENT...BATCH OF TSRAS PRODUCED SVR WX ACROSS
THE MIDDLE OF CWA THIS MORNING. THIS CLUSTER EFFECTIVELY PUSHED INVERTED
SFC TROF SOUTH TO NEAR THE NEB/KS BORDER...AT LEAST IN OUR CWA. FURTHER
SOUTH...WARM FRONT IS LIFTING THRU CNTRL KS W/ M60 DWPTS AS FAR NORTH AS
TOP/SLN. PLENTY OF TSRA ACTIVITY IN WARM SECTOR IN ERN KS...W/ WEAKER
RETURNS INTO OUR 6 NC CNTYS. AS WARM LIFTS INTO INVERTED TROF...EXPECT
TSRAS TO BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD LATE THIS AFTN INTO EVENING. THE BEST
POTENTIAL FOR SVR WX WILL BE OVER NC KS...BUT WILL ALSO WORK NORTH THRU
NEB CNTYS AS STRONG OVERRUNNING OF COOL SFC AIR TAKES PLACE TONIGHT W/
THE APPROACH OF POTENT UPPER LVL SYS CURRENTLY INDICATED CLEARING ON WV
IN AZ. EVENTUALLY EXPECT COOL LLVL AIR TO BE DISPLACED NORTH AS WELL
OVER MOST OF CWA.

WILL FOLLOW ETA W/ ITS SLIGHTLY BETTER HANDING OF LLVL MOISTURE INFLUX
W/ THE CAVIOT THAT IT DID NOT ANTICIPATE THE SWRD PUSH OF SFC TROF BY
AM TSRAS. REALLY...FCST PLAYS OUT ABOUT THE SAME USING ALL THE MDLS W/
BASIC SCENARIO OF TSRAS INCREASING IN COVERAGE THRU NC KS THIS AFTN &
SPREADING THRU NEB CNTYS THIS EVENING...SOME DRY SLOTTING OVERNIGHT...
THEN THE UPPER LO LIFTS NE OVER CWA TOMR...W/ POTENTIAL FOR SVR WX...
INCLUDING TORNADOS INTO EARLY AFTN...WHEN SYS PASSES NE AND A STRONG W
TO NW WIND DRIES THINGS OUT. WHEN ALL THINGS ARE SAID AND DONE...ONLY
NEED TO TWEEK CURRENT FCST. WILL HAVE TO REWORD TEMPS TONIGHT AS 40S
IN PLACE OVER MUCH OF NRN/CNTRL CWA WILL BE REPLACED BY 50S TONIGHT.
WILL UP TEMPS TOMR AS WELL...ESP SE 1/2 OF CWA BASED ON PROGGED TRACK
OF SFC LO AND SOUTH WINDS FCST THRU EARLY AFTN.

AS FOR EXTENDED...WONT PLAY W/ MUCH. AS PER PMDEPD...SOME DIFFICULTY
W/ NEXT WAVE THAT DROPS IN BEHIND CURRENT SYS. I AM INCLINED TO LEAVE
FCST DRY. I EXPECT 2ND SYS TO HAVE ALOT OF TROUBLE MAINTAINING ITSELF
AS IT WORKS EAST INTO CONFLUENT FLOW LEFT IN BEHIND CURRENT BIG STORM.
OTHERWISE...A TREND TOWARD WARMER WX BY WEEKEND AFTER COOLER READINGS
INVADE LATE WED INTO THU IN WAKE OF AZ UPPER LO.

.GID...NONE.

GURNEY

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 10, 8:37 PM CDT, 3 hours 47 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
837 PM CDT TUE APR 10 2001

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....
R
0818 PM    ROCKVILLE                 NE    .75 INCH HAIL
04/10/01   SHERMAN

0830 PM    3 WNW FARWELL             NE    1 INCH HAIL
04/10/01   HOWARD

Local storm report, Apr 11, 12:03 AM CDT, 21 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
1203 AM CDT WED APR 11 2001

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

1145 PM    PALCO                     KS    1.75 INCH HAIL
04/10/01   ROOKS

1145 PM    3 S PLAINVILLE            KS    WIND DAMAGE
04/10/01   ROOKS

1145 PM    PLAINVILLE                KS    75 MPH TSTM GUST
04/10/01   ROOKS

The office that day

Everything else NWS Hastings, NE issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 10, 11:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Rooks	50 min
Apr 10, 11:38 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Rooks	52 min
Apr 11, 12:03 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Osborne, Smith	42 min
Apr 11, 12:46 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Jewell	44 min
Apr 11, 12:52 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Mitchell	38 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Kansas, 2001 Every tornado warning in 2001 Tornadoes 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.