Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 265

May 6, 200334 counties in Kansas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 6, 2003, 8:50 AM CDT for 34 counties in Kansas. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 6, 2003, 8:50 AM CDT (13:50 UTC)
Expired
May 6, 2003, 1:00 PM CDT
In force
4 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 34 counties

Anderson County, KS, Atchison County, KS, Brown County, KS, Chase County, KS, Clay County, KS, Cloud County, KS, Coffey County, KS, Dickinson County, KS, Douglas County, KS, Franklin County, KS, Geary County, KS, Harvey County, KS, Jackson County, KS, Jefferson County, KS, Jewell County, KS, Leavenworth County, KS, Linn County, KS, Lyon County, KS, Marion County, KS, Marshall County, KS, McPherson County, KS, Miami County, KS, Mitchell County, KS, Morris County, KS, Nemaha County, KS, Osage County, KS, Ottawa County, KS, Pottawatomie County, KS, Republic County, KS, Riley County, KS, Saline County, KS, Shawnee County, KS, Wabaunsee County, KS, Washington County, KS

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 21 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 13:52 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.

Warnings issued inside it

12 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 6, 9:13 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPClay, Dickinson, Ottawa47 min
May 6, 9:24 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPDickinson66 min
May 6, 9:43 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPGeary, Riley47 min
May 6, 10:00 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPMorris45 min
May 6, 10:54 AM CDTTornado WarningTOPLyon21 min
May 6, 11:06 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPOsage39 min
May 6, 11:27 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPDouglas, Jefferson, Shawnee48 min
May 6, 11:37 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPLyon23 min
May 6, 11:40 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPDouglas, Franklin65 min
May 6, 11:45 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPOsage15 min
May 6, 12:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAXJohnson, Miami63 min
May 6, 12:49 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPMarshall, Pottawatomie, Riley41 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 12:00Z, 1.8 hours before the alert went out and 60 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 2003-05-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 98 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 2003-05-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -56 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
98 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-211 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1345 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
54 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-56 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
70 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 6, 6:49 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllen, Anderson, Bourbon, Coffey, Crawford, Douglas and 11 more3 hr
May 6, 7:55 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAnderson, Bourbon, Crawford, Franklin, Linn, Miami and 1 more5 hr
May 6, 11:29 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllen, Anderson, Bourbon, Cherokee, Coffey, Crawford and 17 more2 hr
May 6, 11:40 AM CDTTornado WatchSPCAllen, Anderson, Bourbon, Chase, Chautauqua, Cherokee and 20 more7 hr
May 6, 3:42 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllen, Anderson, Bourbon, Cherokee, Crawford, Labette and 4 more2 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Kansas, 2003Every severe thunderstorm watch 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.