Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 15, NWS Hastings, NE
NWS Hastings, NE issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 5, 2002, 4:36 PM CDT for Smith County, Kansas. It was in force for 39 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 5, 2002, 4:36 PM CDT (21:36 UTC)
- Expired
- May 5, 2002, 5:15 PM CDT
- In force
- 39 min
- Issued by
- NWS Hastings, NE
- Area
- Counties, with a storm outline in the text
County Smith County, KS
The radar
The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 73 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:38 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, 5:10 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Reamsville, KS | A short lived tornado occurred in northern Smith county. |
| May 5, 5:20 PM CDT | Tornado F0 | Thornburg, KS | Another short lived tornado in northern Smith county. |
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.
Did it verify
Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this severe thunderstorm warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.
Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.
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, 2:45 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 12:00Z, 9.6 hours before the alert went out and 214 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 172 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -207 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 655 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 169 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 156 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WUUS53 KGID 052136 SVRGRI KSC183-052215- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 436 PM CDT SUN MAY 5 2002 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HASTINGS HAS ISSUED A * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR... SMITH COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS * UNTIL 515 PM CDT * AT 433 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 13 MILES NORTH OF KENSINGTON...OR ABOUT 11 MILES SOUTH OF FRANKLIN...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH. THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN OVER RURAL AREAS OF SMITH COUNTY THROUGH 515 PM CDT. PEOPLE IN SMITH COUNTY SHOULD SEEK SHELTER IN A STURDY STRUCTURE AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS. THE PRIMARY SEVERE WEATHER THREAT IS LARGE HAIL THE SIZE OF DIMES. A TORNADO WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CAN AND OCCASIONALLY DO PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE OR NO WARNING. LAT...LON 3959 9905 3958 9853 3998 9852 3999 9907 NNNN
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 5, 3:12 PM CDT, 1 hour 24 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 5, 3:12 PM CDT, 1 hour 24 minutes before
SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 312 PM CDT SUN MAY 5 2002 ...MAIN CONCERN IS TORNADO WATCH IN KANSAS CWA UNTIL 9 PM TONIGHT... LATEST SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWING LOW PRESSURE CENTER NEAR NE SD. SOUTHERLY WINDS HAVE CONTINUES TO PUMP UP SURFACE MOISTURE INTO THE REGION WITH DEW POINTS ACROSS KS PUSHING INTO THE 60S. AN SPC CONFERENCE CALL HAS ELUDED TO A CONCERN FOR TORNADIC SUPERCELLS DEVELOPING IN THE EARLY EVENING AS CONVECTION BECOMES BETTER ORGANIZED. VIS SATL PIX ALREADY SHOW STUFF STARTING TO BLOSSOM IN SW KS. PROGGED ETA BRN SHEAR...AS WELL AS VGP AND EHI THIS EVENING DO LOOK IMPRESSIVE FOR SUSTAINING A SHEARING ENVIRONMENT ALLOWING STORMS TO DEVELOP A FEW MESOS. WITH MOISTURE CONTINUING TO STREAM IN...THE AIR MASS SHOULD BECOME LESS STABLE WITH TIME AS SUGGESTED BY PROGGED LI/CAPE/TT. ALSO...LCL HGTS GRADUALLY DECREASE AFTER OOZ THIS EVENING OVER MOST OF KS. OTHERWISE...EXPECT CONVECTION TO BE PREVALENT IN KS CWA AND EAST OF THE TRI CITIES. HAIL WILL BE A BIG CONCERN FOR ANY STORMS THAT DO DEVELOP WITHIN THE NEBR CWA AS HEFTY 700-500MB LRS LAY OVER STRONG THETA-E CONVERGENCE. THUNDER CHANCES RETURN MONDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT AS STRONG LOW LEVEL FRONTOGENETIC BOUNDARY ENVELOPES THE AREA...SUGGESTING AN MCS TYPE EVENT. BUT LACKING LOW LEVEL JET AND EASTWARD SKEWED BOUNDARY LAYER MOISTURE ALLOW ONLY SMALL POPS FOR THOSE PERIODS. WILL CONTINUE SMALL POPS INTO WEDNESDAY MORNING FOR LINGERING SHOWERS. NO BIG CHANGES TO THE EXTENDED. .GID...NONE. DEE
In the hours before
Special weather statement, May 5, 11:36 AM CDT, 5 hours before
KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-061200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 1136 AM CDT SUN MAY 5 2002 ...SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS LIKELY THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT...ESPECIALLY DURING THE EVENING HOURS... THERE IS A RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER ALL OF SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT. INITIAL DEVELOPMENT IS POSSIBLE LATE THIS AFTERNOON AS TEMPERATURES REACH OR SURPASS THE 80 DEGREE MARK. LARGE HAIL APPEARS TO BE THE MAIN THREAT DUE TO VERY COLD TEMPERATURES IN THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE. THE BEST CHANCE FOR SEVERE WEATHER WILL FOCUS ALONG A DRY LINE EARLY THIS EVENING. IN ADDITION TO LARGE HAIL...ISOLATED TORNADOES WILL BE POSSIBLE. BY MIDNIGHT...THE GREATEST SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WILL SHIFT NORTHEAST OF A LINE FROM KEARNEY TO SUPERIOR. INCREASING WIND FIELDS ARE EXPECTED TO ESCALATE THE THREAT FOR DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WIND GUSTS. DROZD
Special weather statement, May 5, 3:02 PM CDT, 1 hour 34 minutes before
KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-061200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE 302 PM CDT SUN MAY 5 2002 ...SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS LIKELY THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT... THERE IS A RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER ALL OF SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS THROUGH TONIGHT. A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS UNTIL 9 PM. THUNDERSTORMS OVER WEST CENTRAL KANSAS WILL DEVELOP NORTHEASTWARD. SOME MAY BECOME SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL AND POSSIBLY TORNADOES. THESE STORMS MAY CROSS THE NEBRASKA BORDER AS THE EVENING PROGRESSES. OTHER STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ALONG A BOUNDARY IN NORTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND SWEEP INTO AREAS NORTH OF INTERSTATE 80 TOWARD DUSK. BY MIDNIGHT...THE GREATEST SEVERE WEATHER THREAT WILL BE CONFINED TO AREAS NORTHEAST OF A LINE FROM KEARNEY TO SUPERIOR. INCREASING WIND FIELDS ARE EXPECTED TO ESCALATE THE THREAT FOR DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WIND GUSTS. DROZD
The office that day
Everything else NWS Hastings, NE issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 5, 4:06 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Rooks | 54 min |
| May 5, 4:11 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Phillips | 64 min |
| May 5, 4:43 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | GID | Rooks | 47 min |
| May 5, 4:45 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | GID | Smith | 45 min |
| May 5, 5:11 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | GID | Osborne | 49 min |
| May 5, 5:31 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | GID | Smith | 44 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kansas, 2002Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.