Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 2001

Tornado Warning 47, NWS Wichita, KS

September 17, 2001McPherson County, Kansas

NWS Wichita, KS issued this tornado warning at Sep 17, 2001, 5:08 PM CDT for McPherson County, Kansas. It was in force for 67 min. 2 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, 5:08 PM CDT (22:08 UTC)
Expired: Sep 17, 2001, 6:15 PM CDT
In force: 67 min
Issued by: NWS Wichita, KS
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County McPherson County, KS

The radar

The Wichita radar (KICT), 75 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:10 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
Sep 17, 5:20 PM CDT	Hail 1.75	Inman, KS
Sep 17, 5:35 PM CDT	Hail 1	Windom, 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

Lamont, OK (KLMN), launched 12:00Z, 10.1 hours before the alert went out and 187 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: 677 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -143 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 934 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 117 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 182 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.

684 
WFUS53 KICT 172208
TORICT
KSC113-172315-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WICHITA HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 615 PM CDT

* AT 508 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 14 MILES NORTH OF
  HUTCHINSON...OR 8 MILES SOUTH OF WINDOM...MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.
  THIS STORM COULD PRODUCE A TORNADO AT ANY TIME.

* AT 508 PM CDT...A TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED A TORNADO 14 MILES NORTH
  OF HUTCHINSON...OR 8 MILES SOUTH OF WINDOM. RADAR SHOWED THIS
  TORNADIC STORM MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE
  NEAR INMAN AROUND 530 PM CDT...
  9 MILES SOUTH OF MCPHERSON AROUND 545 PM CDT...
  11 MILES SOUTH OF GALVA AROUND 610 PM CDT...
  NEAR MOUNDRIDGE AROUND 615 PM CDT...

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM. MOVE INTO YOUR TORNADO SHELTER NOW IF NO
UNDERGROUND SHELTER IS AVAILABLE...MOVE INTO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE
LOWEST FLOOR OF A STURDY STRUCTURE.

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

REPEATING...A TORNADO WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR MCPHERSON COUNTY
UNTIL 615 PM CDT.

LAT...LON 3838 9792 3818 9792 3817 9738 3837 9738

/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, 4:43 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Rice	32 min
Sep 17, 5:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Butler	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.