Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 46, NWS Wichita, KS

September 17, 2001Rice County, Kansas

NWS Wichita, KS issued this tornado warning at Sep 17, 2001, 4:43 PM CDT for Rice County, Kansas. It was in force for 32 min. 5 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: Sep 17, 2001, 4:43 PM CDT (21:43 UTC)
Expired: Sep 17, 2001, 5:15 PM CDT
In force: 32 min
Issued by: NWS Wichita, KS
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Rice County, KS

The radar

The Wichita radar (KICT), 96 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:45 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
Sep 17, 4:58 PM CDT	Hail 1.25	Saxman, KS
Sep 17, 5:10 PM CDT	Hail 2.5	Little River, KS
Sep 17, 5:12 PM CDT	Hail 1	Little River, KS
Sep 17, 5:12 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Saxman, KS
Sep 17, 5:22 PM CDT	Hail 0.88	Little River, 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 nearest sounding before it

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 12:00Z, 9.7 hours before the alert went out and 174 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: 370 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -187 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1357 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 53 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 60 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.

255 
WFUS53 KICT 172143
TORICT
KSC159-172215-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
443 PM CDT MON SEP 17 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WICHITA HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 515 PM CDT

* AT 443 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 20 MILES NORTHWEST OF
  HUTCHINSON...OR 6 MILES SOUTHEAST OF LYONS...MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.
  THIS STORM COULD PRODUCE A TORNADO AT ANY TIME.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE
  7 MILES SOUTH OF LITTLE RIVER AROUND 450 PM CDT...

STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS. LEAVE AUTOMOBILES AND MOBILE HOMES...WHICH
OFFER LITTLE PROTECTION FROM A TORNADO.

LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS ARE ALSO EXPECTED WITH
THIS STORM.

REPEATING...A TORNADO WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR RICE COUNTY UNTIL
515 PM CDT.

LAT...LON 3844 9815 3827 9815 3820 9793 3846 9793

/NOONAN

NNNN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 17, 3:45 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Rice	60 min
Sep 17, 5:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Butler	67 min
Sep 17, 5:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	McPherson	67 min
Sep 17, 5:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Rice	14 min
Sep 17, 5:32 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Russell	58 min
Sep 17, 6:02 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Harvey, Reno	58 min
Sep 17, 6:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Butler	66 min
Sep 17, 6:39 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Butler	51 min
Sep 17, 6:51 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Greenwood	54 min
Sep 17, 6:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Harvey	63 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.