Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 39, NWS Wichita, KS

May 11, 2002Ellsworth County, Kansas

NWS Wichita, KS issued this tornado warning at May 11, 2002, 4:29 PM CDT for Ellsworth County, Kansas. It was in force for 46 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 11, 2002, 4:29 PM CDT (21:29 UTC)
Expired: May 11, 2002, 5:15 PM CDT
In force: 46 min
Issued by: NWS Wichita, KS
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Ellsworth County, KS

The radar

The Wichita radar (KICT), 135 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:33 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 11, 4:34 PM CDT	Tornado F0	Ellsworth, KS	Occurred in open country.

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 11, 2:30 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 12:00Z, 9.5 hours before the alert went out and 181 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: 1296 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -195 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 719 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 494 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 564 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 3.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS53 KICT 112129
TORICT
KSC053-112215-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS
429 PM CDT SAT MAY 11 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WICHITA HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 515 PM CDT

* AT 429 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 32 MILES SOUTHEAST OF
  RUSSELL...OR 7 MILES NORTH OF LORRAINE...MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH.
  THIS STORM COULD PRODUCE A TORNADO AT ANY TIME.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE
  NEAR ELLSWORTH AROUND 440 PM CDT...
  NEAR KANOPOLIS AROUND 450 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.

REPEATING...A TORNADO WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR ELLSWORTH COUNTY
UNTIL 515 PM CDT.

LAT...LON 3875 9838 3856 9826 3863 9794 3883 9808

/WOLF

NNNN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 11, 3:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Lincoln	60 min
May 11, 3:55 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Lincoln	65 min
May 11, 3:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Barton	64 min
May 11, 4:04 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Barton	41 min
May 11, 4:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Ellsworth	66 min
May 11, 4:27 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Lincoln	33 min
May 11, 4:36 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Rice	39 min
May 11, 4:52 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Saline	38 min
May 11, 5:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Ellsworth	60 min
May 11, 6:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Reno	66 min
May 11, 6:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Rice	58 min
May 11, 6:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	McPherson	56 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.