Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Hastings, NE

May 5, 2002Webster County, Nebraska; Smith County, Kansas

NWS Hastings, NE issued this tornado warning at May 5, 2002, 5:31 PM CDT for Webster County, Nebraska; Smith County, Kansas. It was in force for 44 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, 5:31 PM CDT (22:31 UTC)
Expired: May 5, 2002, 6:15 PM CDT
In force: 44 min
Issued by: NWS Hastings, NE
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Smith County, KS, Webster County, NE

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 30 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:33 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, 5:40 PM CDT	Hail 1.5	Red Cloud, NE

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, 4:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr
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, 10.5 hours before the alert went out and 208 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: 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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS53 KGID 052231
TORGRI
KSC183-NEC181-052315-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HASTINGS HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHEASTERN SMITH COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS
  SOUTHERN WEBSTER COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA

* UNTIL 615 PM CDT

* AT 528 PM CDT...LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTED A TORNADO 9 MILES
  SOUTHWEST OF RED CLOUD...MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  RED CLOUD AT 545 PM CDT

THIS REPLACES THE TORNADO WARNING IN EFFECT FOR NORTHERN SMITH COUNTY
AND THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR WEBSTER COUNTY.

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

LAT...LON 4013 9871 3990 9872 4007 9837 4012 9837

&

NNNN

The office that day

Everything else NWS Hastings, NE issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 5, 4:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Franklin	56 min
May 5, 5:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Webster	54 min
May 5, 5:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Adams	41 min
May 5, 5:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Clay, Hall, Hamilton	63 min
May 5, 6:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Merrick	59 min
May 5, 6:12 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Merrick	48 min
May 5, 6:16 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Nuckolls, Webster	44 min
May 5, 6:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Kearney	51 min
May 5, 6:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Nance	38 min
May 5, 6:54 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Buffalo	51 min
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, 4:43 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

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Nebraska, 2002 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.