Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 13, NWS Wichita, KS

May 5, 2001Sumner County, Kansas

NWS Wichita, KS issued this tornado warning at May 5, 2001, 7:17 PM CDT for Sumner County, Kansas. It was in force for 43 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 5, 2001, 7:17 PM CDT (00:17 UTC)
Expired: May 5, 2001, 8:00 PM CDT
In force: 43 min
Issued by: NWS Wichita, KS
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Sumner County, KS

The radar

The Wichita radar (KICT), 36 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:18 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
May 5, 7:29 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Belle Plaine, KS	Occurred in open country.
May 5, 8:00 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Belle Plaine, KS
May 5, 8:04 PM CDT	Hail 1	Wellington, 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
May 5, 5:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Lamont, OK (KLMN), launched 00:00Z, 0.3 hours before the alert went out and 81 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: 870 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -6 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 960 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 131 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 198 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.7
Supercell composite: 4.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

094 
WFUS53 KICT 060018
TORICT
KSC191-060100-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
717 PM CDT SAT MAY 5 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WICHITA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SUMNER COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS

* UNTIL 800 PM CDT

* AT 717 PM CDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 26 MILES NORTHWEST OF
  ARKANSAS CITY...OR 2 MILES NORTH OF WELLINGTON...MOVING NORTHEAST
  AT 25 MPH. THIS STORM COULD PRODUCE A TORNADO AT ANY TIME.
  RADAR SHOWED ANOTHER STORM WITH STRONG ROTATION JUST NORTHWEST OF
  CALDWELL...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH. THIS STORM COULD ALSO 
  PRODUCE A TORNADO AT ANY TIME.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE
  NEAR BELLE PLAINE AROUND 730 PM CDT...
  AREAS BETWEEN CALDWELL AND MAYFIELD AROUND 730 PM CDT...

THIS REPLACES THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING PREVIOUSLY ISSUED FOR
THE WARNED AREA.

IF NO UNDERGROUND SHELTER IS AVAILABLE...MOVE INTO AN INTERIOR ROOM
ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF A STURDY STRUCTURE. STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.
LEAVE AUTOMOBILES AND MOBILE HOMES...WHICH OFFER LITTLE PROTECTION
FROM A TORNADO.

REPEATING...A TORNADO WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR SUMNER COUNTY UNTIL
800 PM CDT.

LAT...LON 3731 9747 3724 9738 3737 9721 3747 9733

/DARMOFAL

NNNN

The office that day

Everything else NWS Wichita, KS issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 5, 7:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Sumner	54 min
May 5, 7:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Sedgwick	23 min
May 5, 7:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Sedgwick, Sumner	46 min
May 5, 8:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Butler	57 min
May 5, 9:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Chase	61 min
May 6, 5:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Woodson	43 min
May 6, 5:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Greenwood	31 min
May 6, 5:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Cowley	44 min
May 6, 5:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Woodson	48 min
May 6, 6:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Cowley	47 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.