Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Dodge City, KS

May 15, 2003Meade County, Kansas

NWS Dodge City, KS issued this tornado warning at May 15, 2003, 8:48 PM CDT for Meade County, Kansas. It was in force for 42 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 15, 2003, 8:48 PM CDT (01:48 UTC)
Expired: May 15, 2003, 9:30 PM CDT
In force: 42 min
Issued by: NWS Dodge City, KS
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Meade County, KS

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 82 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:49 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.

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 15, 6:50 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 00:00Z, 1.8 hours before the alert went out and 86 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: 351 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -254 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 723 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 52 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 417 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 695 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WFUS53 KDDC 160148
TORDDC
KSC119-160230-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
846 PM CDT THU MAY 15 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DODGE CITY HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  MEADE COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST KANSAS
  
* UNTIL 930 PM CDT

* AT 846 PM CDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  RAPIDLY ROTATING THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO 8
  MILES SOUTHWEST OF PLAINS CITY...OR ABOUT 4 MILES SOUTHEAST OF
  KISMET...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH. 

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  PLAINS CITY AT 900 PM CDT
  MEADE STATE PARK AT 905 PM CDT
  MISSLER AT 920 PM CDT
  MEADE AT 925 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. STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS. ABANDON
MOBILE HOMES...WHICH OFFER NO PROTECTION FROM A TORNADO.

LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS ARE ALSO EXPECTED WITH
THIS STORM.

THIS TORNADO WARNING EXTENDS THE PREVIOUS WARNING THAT WAS IN EFFECT 

LAT...LON 3716 10068 3700 10068 3701 10026 3735 10020
          3733 10062

$$

UMSCHEID

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 15, 7:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Kearny	45 min
May 15, 7:32 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Haskell, Seward	28 min
May 15, 8:01 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Meade, Seward	44 min
May 15, 8:51 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Seward	39 min
May 15, 9:33 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Meade	42 min
May 15, 10:13 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	DDC	Meade, Seward	3 hr
May 15, 10:19 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Clark, Ford, Meade	26 min
May 15, 10:22 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Clark, Meade	23 min
May 15, 10:47 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Clark, Meade	43 min
May 15, 11:07 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Clark, Ford, Meade	38 min
May 15, 11:30 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Comanche, Kiowa	45 min
May 15, 11:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Ford	32 min
May 16, 12:14 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Barber, Pratt	46 min
May 16, 12:22 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Kiowa	23 min
May 16, 12:34 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Edwards	26 min
May 16, 12:57 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Barber, Pratt, Stafford	48 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Kansas, 2003 Every tornado warning in 2003 Tornadoes in 2003

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.