Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Dodge City, KS

May 7, 2002Edwards County, Ford County, Kansas

NWS Dodge City, KS issued this tornado warning at May 7, 2002, 5:53 PM CDT for Edwards County, Ford County, Kansas. It was in force for 37 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: May 7, 2002, 5:53 PM CDT (22:53 UTC)
Expired: May 7, 2002, 6:30 PM CDT
In force: 37 min
Issued by: NWS Dodge City, KS
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Edwards County, KS, Ford County, KS

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 33 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:55 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 7, 5:58 PM CDT	Tornado F3	Windthorst, KS	This tornado became quite large as it moved at first to the southwest and then turned southeast. The tornado completely stripped topsoil from one field and debarked trees at a pond. Several dozen cattle were killed with several 1500 pound heifers carried 3/4
May 7, 6:11 PM CDT	Tornado F1	Windthorst, KS	This tornado moved west, crossing into the county from Edwards county at 611 PM CDT.

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 7, 4:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 12:00Z, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 27 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: 1217 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -347 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1311 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 106 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 118 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS53 KDDC 072253
TORDDC
KSC047-057-072330-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
553 PM CDT TUE MAY 7 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DODGE CITY HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHWESTERN EDWARDS COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS
  NORTHEASTERN FORD COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST KANSAS

* UNTIL 630 PM CDT

* AT 553 PM CDT DODGE CITY DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A RAPIDLY ROTATING
  THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 2 MILES SOUTHEAST OF
  WINDTHORST...OR ABOUT 10 MILES SOUTHEAST OF SPEARVILLE...MOVING
  NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  OFFERLE AT 610 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. STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS. ABANDON
MOBILE HOMES...WHICH OFFER NO PROTECTION FROM A TORNADO.

LAT...LON 3775 9972 3769 9957 3773 9956 3788 9942
          3789 9958

16

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 7, 4:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Edwards, Ford, Kiowa	45 min
May 7, 4:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Edwards, Pawnee	49 min
May 7, 5:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Hodgeman	43 min
May 7, 5:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Edwards, Ford	44 min
May 7, 5:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Edwards, Ford, Hodgeman, Pawnee	46 min
May 7, 6:15 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Kiowa	45 min
May 7, 6:32 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Edwards, Ford	43 min
May 7, 6:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Clark, Ford	34 min
May 7, 6:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Kiowa	49 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Kansas, 2002 Every tornado warning in 2002 Tornadoes in 2002

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.