Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 25, NWS Topeka, KS
NWS Topeka, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 18, 2002, 12:17 AM CDT for Clay County, Ottawa County, Kansas. It was in force for 43 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, 12:17 AM CDT (05:17 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 18, 2002, 1:00 AM CDT
- In force
- 43 min
- Issued by
- NWS Topeka, KS
- Area
- Counties, with a storm outline in the text
Counties Clay County, KS, Ottawa County, KS
The radar
The Topeka radar (KTWX), 103 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 05:18 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, 12:23 AM CDT | Hail 1 | Vine Creek, KS | |
| Apr 18, 12:41 AM CDT | Hail 1 | Longford, KS | |
| Apr 18, 1:06 AM CDT | Hail 1.25 | Clay Center, 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.
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 nearest sounding before it
Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 00:00Z, 5.3 hours before the alert went out and 151 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
- 2478 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -54 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1480 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 38 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 190 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 361 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.5
- Supercell composite
- 16.4
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
WUUS53 KTOP 180517
SVRTOP
KSC027-143-180600-
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
1215 AM CDT THU APR 18 2002
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TOPEKA HAS ISSUED A
* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
CLAY COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS
NORTHEASTERN OTTAWA COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS
* UNTIL 100 AM CDT
* AT 1214 AM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 10 MILES WEST OF LONGFORD...OR ABOUT 23 MILES
NORTHWEST OF ABILENE...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 45 MPH.
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED...
LONGFORD
OAK HILL
IDANA
CLAY CENTER
MORGANVILLE
LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN AND DAMAGING WINDS ARE LIKELY WITH THIS
STORM. THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING LARGE HAIL. TAKE COVER
INSIDE A BUILDING.
STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR LOCAL MEDIA OUTLETS FOR THE
LATEST SEVERE WEATHER INFORMATION.
LAT...LON 3954 9720 3929 9697 3907 9749 3920 9763
3930 9750 3931 9738 3942 9735What 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 Topeka, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Apr 17, 3:00 PM CDT, 9 hours 17 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Apr 17, 3:00 PM CDT, 9 hours 17 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS 3 PM CDT WED APR 17 2002 MAIN PROBLEMS ARE CONSIDERATIONS OF STG CONVECTION TONIGHT AND THURSDAY...THEN AMT OF COOLING AND PCPN CHCS INTO THE WEEKEND. VERY WARM ON THURSDAY WITH SOME READINGS NEAR RECORD HIGH LVLS...AM USING MESO-ETA SFC TEMPERATURES FOR MAX TEMP GUIDANCE ON THURSDAY. RATHER SLIM CHCS FOR CONVECTION TONIGHT. NOT QUITE SLIM ENUF TO PRECLUDE MENTION...BUT WILL HOLD WITH MINIMAL POPS FOR THREE REASONS...ALL OF WHICH MAY BE RATHER WEAK. FIRST IS WARMFRONTAL BOUNDARY. LATEST PROFILERS FROM 19Z SHOW BNDRY JUST OFF THE SFC (FIRST SVRL GATES OF PROFILERS) SHOW IT ALG NRN BORDER. ALL SMALLER GRID MODELS INCLUDING MESO-ETA AND WORKSTATION ETA SHOW SFC FNT MVG RAPIDLY NORTH REST OF THIS AFTERNOON. COULD HAVE A STORM OR TWO ALONG NRN BORDER EARLY BUT MORE LIKELY TO NORTH OF CWA. SECOND REASON IS CONVECTION TRYING TO GET ITSELF TOGETHER ALG DRY LINE WRN OK. THIS COULD DVLP FURTHER NORTH NEXT FEW HOURS...THEN MAY TRACK NORTHEAST INTO CWA LATE EVENING. HOWEVER WOULD NOT EXPECT THIS TO MAKE MUCH PROGRESS EAST...IF IT EVEN MAKES IT THIS FAR. NOTE AND AGREE WITH ICT THAT STORMS MAY HAVE A HARD TIME MAKING IT TOO FAR INTO KS...LET ALONE MY CWA. BUT STILL SOME REMOTE THREAT. PROBABLY THE BEST THREAT...ALBEIT STILL QUITE SMALL...IS THE THREAT FOR ELEVATED CONVECTION WITHIN THE LOW LVL JET LATER TONIGHT. BUFKIT SNDGS IMPLY THIS AFT MIDNIGHT WITHIN AREA. IF THIS HAPPENS, THIS CONVECTION COULD LINGER INTO TMRW AM. THEREFORE...WILL CONTINUE WITH SLGT CHC FOR CONVECTION TONIGHT...THEN MENTION CONVECTION CNTRL AND ERN PTN CWA ON THURSDAY. FOLLOWING MESO-ETA LOW LVL MOISTURE PROFILE... WRN PTN CWA NOT LIKELY TO SEE ANY CONVECTION TMRW SINCE DRYER AIR LIKELY WORKING IN BY MIDDAY TMRW. QUESTION THEN BECOMES WHERE BEST MOISTURE CONVERGENCE SETS UP BY THIS TIME THURSDAY. ALSO AGREE WITH ICT THAT TMRW COULD BE AN ACTIVE SVR WX DAY. NUMEROUS SHORT WAVE IMPULSES MOVG OVR AREA LATE IN THE AFTN COULD BE JUST ENOUGH IMPETUS FOR EXPLOSIVE DVLPMT. GIVEN CURRENT MESO-ETA FCST...WOULD SUSPECT THAT MAY HAPPEN NEAR OR JUST EAST OF A SENECA-ABILENE LINE BY MID TO LATE AFTN. CONVECTION WOULD THEN PUSH EAST OVR REST OF CWA...EXITING SOUTHEASTERN PTN OF CWA AFT MIDNIGHT. LATER FORECAST PDS PROBLEMATIC TOO. IF HPCS SFC WX DEPICTION IS RIGHT...CANT SEE MUCH SUPPORT FOR PCPN OVER THE WEEKEND...CERTAINLY NOT TSTMS. OF COURSE, COULD SEE LOTS OF CLOUDS WITH SOME OVRRNG...BUT WIDESPREAD PCPN NOT LIKELY. WITH NORTHERLY FLOW AND CLOUDS...TEMPERATURES BLO CLIMO LIKELY. NICE RECOVERY BY EARLY NEXT WEEK. IF LESS CLOUDS OCCUR THAN FORECAST...WEEKEND TEMPS WOULD NOT BE THAT FAR REMOVED FROM CLIMO HIGHS/LOWS...I.E. 60S/40S. .TOP...NONE
In the hours before
Local storm report, Apr 17, 11:26 PM CDT, 51 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
1126 PM CDT WED APR 17 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1124 PM 3 S ELMO KS 1.75 INCH HAIL
04/17/02 DICKINSON PUBLIC REPORTED GOLF
BALL SIZE HAILLocal storm report, Apr 17, 11:33 PM CDT, 44 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
1133 PM CDT WED APR 17 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1113 PM 2 SW CARLTON KS .75 INCH HAIL
04/17/02 DICKINSON PUBLIC REPORTED DIME
SIZE HAILLocal storm report, Apr 17, 11:34 PM CDT, 43 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
1134 PM CDT WED APR 17 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1124 PM 1S ELMO KS 1 INCH HAIL
04/17/02 DICKINSONLocal storm report, Apr 17, 11:35 PM CDT, 42 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
1135 PM CDT WED APR 17 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1123 PM CARLTON KS 1 INCH HAIL
04/17/02 DICKINSONLocal storm report, Apr 17, 11:48 PM CDT, 29 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
1148 PM CDT WED APR 17 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1148 PM 5N HERINGTON KS 1 INCH HAIL
04/17/02 DICKINSONLocal storm report, Apr 18, 12:05 AM CDT, 12 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
1205 AM CDT THU APR 18 2002
TIME(CDT) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
1204 AM MINNEAPOLIS KS .75 INCH HAIL
04/18/02 OTTAWA PENNY SIZE HAIL
REPORTED BY LAW
ENFORCEMENTThe office that day
Everything else NWS Topeka, KS issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 17, 8:56 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Dickinson | 34 min |
| Apr 17, 10:57 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | TOP | Dickinson | 43 min |
| Apr 17, 11:27 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Ottawa | 48 min |
| Apr 17, 11:36 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | TOP | Dickinson, Geary, Morris | 39 min |
| Apr 18, 12:22 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Republic, Washington | 38 min |
| Apr 18, 12:46 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | TOP | Clay | 44 min |
| Apr 18, 1:08 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | TOP | Riley, Washington | 37 min |
| Apr 18, 1:28 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Marshall | 47 min |
| Apr 18, 1:47 AM CDT | Tornado Warning | TOP | Marshall | 43 min |
| Apr 18, 5:37 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Dickinson | 38 min |
| Apr 18, 6:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Geary, Riley | 45 min |
| Apr 18, 6:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Pottawatomie | 45 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.