Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 14, NWS Wichita, KS

May 20, 2001Russell County, Kansas

NWS Wichita, KS issued this tornado warning at May 20, 2001, 6:00 PM CDT for Russell County, Kansas. It was in force for 45 min. No storm report in the archive falls 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.

The facts

Issued
May 20, 2001, 6:00 PM CDT (23:00 UTC)
Expired
May 20, 2001, 6:45 PM CDT
In force
45 min
Issued by
NWS Wichita, KS
Area
Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Russell County, KS

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 153 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:01 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

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 161 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2001-05-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 3 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2001-05-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 49 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
3 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-77 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
829 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
49 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
95 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.

000 
WFUS53 KICT 202304
TORICT
KSC167-202345-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
600 PM CDT SUN MAY 20 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WICHITA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  RUSSELL COUNTY IN CENTRAL KANSAS

* UNTIL 645 PM CDT

* AT 600 PM CDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 18 MILES NORTHWEST OF
  RUSSELL...OR 7 MILES SOUTH OF NATOMA...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 35 MPH.
  THIS STORM COULD PRODUCE A TORNADO AT ANY TIME.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE
  8 MILES NORTHEAST OF GORHAM AT 620 PM
  NEAR RUSSELL AROUND 630 PM CDT...

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. MOVE INTO YOUR TORNADO SHELTER NOW

REPEATING...A TORNADO WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR RUSSELL COUNTY
UNTIL 645 PM CDT.

LAT...LON 3919 9899 3908 9918 3868 9874 3879 9855

/FINCH

NNNN

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 20, 4:19 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTButler56 min
May 20, 4:47 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTCowley58 min
May 20, 5:10 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTGreenwood60 min
May 20, 5:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTCowley59 min
May 20, 6:47 PM CDTTornado WarningICTBarton, Russell43 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.