Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 2002
Tornado Warning 6, NWS Wichita, KS
NWS Wichita, KS issued this tornado warning at Apr 18, 2002, 5:57 PM CDT for McPherson County, Kansas. It was in force for 48 min. 3 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
- Apr 18, 2002, 5:57 PM CDT (22:57 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 18, 2002, 6:45 PM CDT
- In force
- 48 min
- Issued by
- NWS Wichita, KS
- Area
- Counties, with a storm outline in the text
County McPherson County, KS
The radar
The Wichita radar (KICT), 96 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:56 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 18, 5:57 PM CDT | Hail 1.5 | Mc Pherson, KS | |
| Apr 18, 6:10 PM CDT | Hail 1.75 | Mc Pherson, KS | |
| Apr 18, 6:10 PM CDT | Hail 2 | Mc Pherson, KS |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 18, 4:00 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 189 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
- 1886 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -212 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1049 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 41 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 208 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 220 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.9
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 WFUS53 KICT 182257 TORICT KSC113-182345- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE WICHITA KS 557 PM CDT THU APR 18 2002 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN WICHITA HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... MCPHERSON COUNTY IN CENTRAL KANSAS * UNTIL 645 PM CDT * AT 557 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH STRONG ROTATION 26 MILES SOUTH OF SALINA...OR 7 MILES NORTHWEST OF MCPHERSON...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 15 MPH. THIS STORM COULD PRODUCE A TORNADO AT ANY TIME. * THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR LINDSBORG AROUND 615 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. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS ARE ALSO EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM. REPEATING...A TORNADO WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR MCPHERSON COUNTY UNTIL 645 PM CDT. LAT...LON 3848 9790 3835 9773 3857 9741 3858 9766 /LAWSON NNNN
The office that day
Everything else NWS Wichita, KS issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 17, 7:24 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Ellsworth | 51 min |
| Apr 17, 8:05 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Rice | 40 min |
| Apr 17, 8:19 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | McPherson | 56 min |
| Apr 17, 8:22 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ICT | Kingman | 23 min |
| Apr 17, 8:29 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Barton | 46 min |
| Apr 17, 8:41 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Reno | 64 min |
| Apr 17, 8:44 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Kingman | 61 min |
| Apr 17, 8:56 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Kingman | 19 min |
| Apr 17, 8:58 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Rice | 62 min |
| Apr 17, 9:26 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Ellsworth | 49 min |
| Apr 17, 9:41 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Reno | 49 min |
| Apr 17, 9:42 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Reno | 48 min |
| Apr 17, 9:58 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Rice | 47 min |
| Apr 17, 10:06 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | McPherson | 39 min |
| Apr 17, 10:30 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Ellsworth | 45 min |
| Apr 17, 10:48 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | McPherson, Saline | 42 min |
| Apr 17, 11:03 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Marion | 27 min |
| Apr 17, 11:12 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Lincoln | 48 min |
| Apr 17, 11:26 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Saline | 49 min |
| Apr 17, 11:31 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Saline | 44 min |
| Apr 18, 1:40 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Sumner | 65 min |
| Apr 18, 2:29 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Sedgwick | 46 min |
| Apr 18, 3:02 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Butler | 58 min |
| Apr 18, 5:15 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | McPherson | 45 min |
| Apr 18, 6:44 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | ICT | McPherson | 46 min |
| Apr 18, 6:58 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Marion | 62 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Kansas, 2002Every tornado warning in 2002Tornadoes 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.