Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Hastings, NE

May 5, 2002Rooks County, Kansas

NWS Hastings, NE issued this tornado warning at May 5, 2002, 4:43 PM CDT for Rooks County, Kansas. It was in force for 47 min. 1 report 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, 4:43 PM CDT (21:43 UTC)
Expired: May 5, 2002, 5:30 PM CDT
In force: 47 min
Issued by: NWS Hastings, NE
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Rooks County, KS

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 158 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:43 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, 4:50 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Zurich, KS	A tornado was just north of the Rooks/Ellis county line. It was on the ground at the same time as another tornado was occurring just to the south in northern Ellis county. No damage was reported.

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 5, 2:45 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 12:00Z, 9.7 hours before the alert went out and 158 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: 282 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -438 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1423 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 68 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 77 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 KGID 052143
TORGRI
KSC163-052230-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
443 PM CDT SUN MAY 5 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HASTINGS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  SOUTHERN ROOKS COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS

* UNTIL 530 PM CDT

* AT 438 PM CDT...WEATHER SPOTTERS REPORTED A TORNADO 12 MILES
  SOUTHWEST OF ZURICH...OR ABOUT 17 MILES SOUTHWEST OF PLAINVILLE...
  MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  ZURICH AT 505 PM CDT
  PLAINVILLE AT 520 PM CDT

THIS IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS SITUATION. A TORNADO HAS BEEN SIGHTED.
PEOPLE IN SOUTHERN ROOKS COUNTY SHOULD TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY IN A
BASEMENT OR SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.

IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY BUILDING. AS A
LAST RESORT...SEEK SHELTER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD
WITH YOUR HANDS.

LAT...LON 3911 9971 3898 9954 3922 9919 3938 9939

&

NNNN

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, 4:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Smith	39 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

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.