Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 253, NWS Hastings, NE

August 26, 2003Smith County, Kansas

NWS Hastings, NE issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 26, 2003, 2:59 PM CDT for Smith County, Kansas. It was in force for 61 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: Aug 26, 2003, 2:59 PM CDT (19:59 UTC)
Expired: Aug 26, 2003, 4:00 PM CDT
In force: 61 min
Issued by: NWS Hastings, NE
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Smith County, KS

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 64 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:03 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.

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

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 12:00Z, 8.0 hours before the alert went out and 209 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: 110 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -333 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1828 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 6 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 0 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 125 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS53 KGID 261959
SVRGID
KSC183-262100-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
259 PM CDT TUE AUG 26 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN HASTINGS HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  SMITH COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS

* UNTIL 400 PM CDT

* AT 257 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 7 MILES NORTH OF SMITH CENTER...OR ABOUT 30
  MILES EAST OF PHILLIPSBURG...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  LEBANON AT 320 PM CDT...

PEOPLE IN SMITH COUNTY SHOULD SEEK SHELTER IN A STURDY STRUCTURE AND
STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH AND LARGE HAIL THE
SIZE OF QUARTERS ARE LIKELY.

LAT...LON 3998 9904 3957 9902 3958 9851 3999 9849
$$
FAY
NNNN

What 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 Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Aug 26, 3:00 AM CDT, 11 hours 59 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 26, 3:00 AM CDT, 11 hours 59 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
300 AM CDT TUE AUG 26 2003

MAIN FRONT STILL WELL NORTH...STRETCHING FROM CNTRL MN THRU SD AND
INTO SERN MT. SFC TROF THRU CWA FROM CNTRL IA TO SERN CO...WITH SFC
HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING RAPIDLY OVR CNTRL ROCKIES. SPACE PICS SHOW
UPR HIGH INTERMOUNTAIN WEST UT CO WY REGION AND OTHER LOWER
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. MINOR SW TROF PUSHING EWD IN ADVANCE OF ROCKY
MNT HIGH...WITH AXIS FROM NERN NE TO SWRN KA. STRONG AREA OF UPR LVL
DESCENDING AIR OVR SERN WY...HELPING TO DEEPEN HIGH AT GROUND LVL
AND DRIVE BOTH SFC TROF AND UPR SW TROF S AND E.

SCT TSRW THRU CWA TODAY WITH PUSH OF TROF AXES. KEEPING POPS OVR SRN
HALF CWA REST OF TODAY AND TONIGHT THRU WED AM AS BOUNDARY HANGS
AROUND KS/NE BORDER...PLUS DAY HEATING FOR CONTINUES POPS THIS
AFTERNOON...PLUS NEXT SW ENERGY COMING OUT OF FOUR CORNERS REGION TO
EXTEND POPS OVR NIGHT...THEN STRENGTHENING LEE TROF THRU WED WITH
LEE CYCLOGENESIS PUSHING BOUNDARY BACK UP NORTH THRU REST OF
CWA...GIVING SMALL CHANCE EVERYWHERE. FIRST OF PAC NW LOWS AND
FRONTS COMING THRU THU/FRI...THEN AGAIN SAT...WITH SO PRECIP CHCS
CONTINUING IN SOME FORM THRU FIRST HALF OF WEEKEND. BEST NEWS WILL
BE IN THE TRANSITION FROM TEMPS IN 90S AND 100S...TO 70S AND 80S
FROM FRI ON. SOME WARMING LIKELY SUN AND MON...CONTINUING INTO
MIDDLE OF WORK WEEK...WITH EXTENDED MDLS TRANSITIONING AREA TO NW
FLOW...PROVIDING CONTINUOUS PVA POURING OVR HEAD...KEEPING GOOD CHCS
FOR AT LEAST SOME CLOUD AND LESS SUN WHICH EQUATES TO SLOW WARMING
TREND THRU DAY 7...BEFORE W/SW RIDGE AND HEAT RETURNS.

GID...NONE.

10

Hazardous weather outlook, Aug 26, 11:06 AM CDT, 3 hours 53 minutes before

KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-271200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
1035 AM CDT TUE AUG 26 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND
PARTS OF NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

ISOLATED TO SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE FOUND ACROSS
PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA AND NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS THIS
AFTERNOON AND EVENING.  THE SHOWER ACTIVITY WILL BE FOUND ALONG AND
AHEAD OF A WEAK FRONTAL BOUNDARY LOCATED FROM YORK TO DONIPHAN
NEBRASKA...TO LONG ISLAND KANSAS.  THIS BOUNDARY WILL GRADUALLY
MOVE SOUTH DURING THE DAY.

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED FROM THE SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM
ACTIVITY DUE TO WEAK INSTABILITY AND WEAK WIND FIELDS.  AN ISOLATED
STORM MAY PRODUCE SMALL HAIL OR GUSTY WINDS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY

THE WEAK COLD FRONT WILL BECOME NEARLY STATIONARY NEAR THE KANSAS
NEBRASKA BORDER BY WEDNESDAY MORNING. THIS WILL CONTINUE SMALL
CHANCES FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS FROM NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS...
LIFTING INTO SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA DURING THE DAY AND INTO THE
EARLY EVENING. ONCE AGAIN...RATHER WEAK ATMOSPHERIC DYNAMICS WILL
PRECLUDE WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT.
ADDITIONAL CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS WILL ARISE THURSDAY THROUGH
SATURDAY AS A COUPLE OF FALL LIKE FRONTS MAKE THEIR WAY THROUGH THE
REGION. A FEW OF THESE STORMS MAY BECOME STRONG...ESPECIALLY
THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON OR
TONIGHT.

FAY

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kansas, 2003 Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.