Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2003

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 43, NWS Topeka, KS

May 4, 2003Dickinson County, Geary County, Kansas

NWS Topeka, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 4, 2003, 6:56 PM CDT for Dickinson County, Geary County, Kansas. It was in force for 34 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 4, 2003, 6:56 PM CDT (23:56 UTC)
Expired: May 4, 2003, 7:30 PM CDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Topeka, KS
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

Counties Dickinson County, KS, Geary County, KS

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 55 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:59 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

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 12:00Z, 11.9 hours before the alert went out and 107 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: 409 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -194 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 563 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 582 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 841 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 17.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
WUUS53 KTOP 042356
SVRTOP
KSC041-061-050030-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
656 PM CDT SUN MAY 4 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TOPEKA HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  NORTHEASTERN DICKINSON COUNTY IN CENTRAL KANSAS
  GEARY COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL KANSAS

* UNTIL 730 PM CDT

* AT 654 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 6 MILES SOUTHEAST OF ENTERPRISE...OR ABOUT 11
  MILES SOUTHEAST OF ABILENE...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 60 MPH.

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED...
  JUNCTION CITY

LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN AND DAMAGING WINDS ARE LIKELY WITH THIS
STORM. FOR YOUR SAFETY...TAKE COVER INSIDE A BUILDING NOW.

STAY TUNED TO WEATHER RADIO OR LOCAL MEDIA OUTLETS FOR THE LATEST
SEVERE WEATHER INFORMATION.

LAT...LON 3908 9670 3897 9659 3887 9675 3888 9689
          3877 9699 3875 9713 3911 9721 3912 9691
          3908 9686

$$

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 Topeka, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 4, 2:25 PM CDT, 4 hours 31 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 4, 2:25 PM CDT, 4 hours 31 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KANSAS
225 PM CDT SUN MAY 4 2003

RAIN CHANCES FROM WEDNESDAY THROUGH THE WEEKEND IS THE MAIN FORECAST
CONCERN.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL SHOULD END BY EARLY EVENING AS DRY
LINE MOVES EAST OF THE CWA.  WRAP-AROUND COLD POOL ALOFT MAY SPARK A
FEW SHOWERS DURING THE EVENING BUT GENERALLY DRIER WEATHER EXPECTED
FOR THE FIRST PART OF THE WEEK.  COLD FRONT WILL PUSH TO THE SOUTH
ON MONDAY...THEN BEGIN ITS TREK BACK NORTH AS A WARM FRONT ON
WEDNESDAY.  CONVECTION IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON
JUST ABOUT ANYWHERE IN THE CWA THEN.  HAVE KEPT CHANCE POPS GOING
FOR THIS.

FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK...ANOTHER UPPER TROUGH WILL DROP INTO THE
WESTERN U.S.  A SERIES OF VORT LOBES EJECTING NORTHEAST FROM THE
BASE OF THE TROUGH WILL TRIGGER SURFACE LOW PRESSURE IN THE HIGH
PLAINS.  WITH WARM FRONT TO THE NORTH...PLAINS WILL BE SUPPLIED WITH
WARM AND MOIST GULF AIR.  THIS COMBINATION WILL RESULT IN A CHANCE
FOR THUNDERSTORMS JUST ABOUT ANY DAY RIGHT ON THROUGH SUNDAY.  AFTER
COLLABORATION WITH SURROUNDING OFFICES...BEST APPROACH NOW APPEARS
TO BE TO SHOTGUN CHANCE POPS FOR DAYS 3 THROUGH 7 AND THEREFORE WAS
DONE.

TEMPERATURES WILL COOL SLIGHTLY WITH CURRENT LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM
MOVING EAST.  LOW TEMPERATURES SHOULD AVERAGE UPPER 40S WITH HIGHS
IN THE UPPER 60S AND 70S MONDAY AND TUESDAY.  PLENTY OF SUNSHINE ON
MONDAY MAY HELP TEMPS IN THE SOUTHERN CWA TO TOUCH 80.  WITH ONSET
OF CLOUDS/PRECIP CHANCES BY MID WEEK...WILL TREND TEMPS BACK TO NEAR
NORMAL.

.TOP...NONE.

62

Hazardous weather outlook, May 4, 5:51 PM CDT, 1 hour 5 minutes before

KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058-059-051000-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
551 PM CDT SUN MAY 4 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH CENTRAL...NORTHEAST AND
EAST CENTRAL KANSAS.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT

ALTHOUGH SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL LINGER INTO THE EVENING...IT
APPEARS THE THREAT FOR TORNADOES HAS GREATLY DIMINISHED. IN
ADDITION...THE THREAT OF LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS WILL ALSO
DECREASE RAPIDLY AS SUNSET APPROACHES.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY

THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE AGAIN WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTERS WILL LIKELY NOT BE NEEDED TONIGHT.

&&

MORE INFORMATION MAY BE OBTAINED AT THE FOLLOWING WEB PAGE:
   HTTP://WWW.CRH.NOAA.GOV/TOP  (ALL LOWER CASE)

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 4, 2:42 PM CDT, 4 hours 14 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA, KS
242 PM CDT SUN MAY 4 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0240 PM    WINCHESTER                KS   1.00 INCH HAIL
05/04/03   JEFFERSON

BN

Local storm report, May 4, 3:33 PM CDT, 3 hours 23 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA, KS
333 PM CDT SUN MAY 4 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0326 PM    LAWRENCE                  KS   .75 INCH HAIL
05/04/03   DOUGLAS

BN

Local storm report, May 4, 4:42 PM CDT, 2 hours 14 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA, KS
442 PM CDT SUN MAY 4 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0441 PM    KINCAID                   KS   1.00 INCH HAIL
05/04/03   ANDERSON

Local storm report, May 4, 5:20 PM CDT, 1 hour 36 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA, KS
520 PM CDT SUN MAY 4 2003

TIME(CDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0500 PM    1 W JAMESTOWN             KS   .88 INCH HAIL
05/04/03   CLOUD                          REPORTED BY COUNTY EM.

0500 PM    GLASCO                    KS   .75 INCH HAIL
05/04/03   CLOUD                          REPORTED BY TRAINED
                                          SPOTTER.

Special weather statement, May 4, 5:55 PM CDT, 1 hour 1 minute before

KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058-059-042345-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
555 PM CDT SUN MAY 4 2003

TORNADO WATCH #231 WILL EXPIRE AT 6PM AND NOT BE REISSUED. THE WATCH
IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...

  REPUBLIC              WASHINGTON            NEMAHA
  MARSHALL              BROWN                 CLOUD
  JACKSON               CLAY                  RILEY
  POTTAWATOMIE          JEFFERSON             OTTAWA
  GEARY                 SHAWNEE               WABAUNSEE
  DICKINSON             DOUGLAS               MORRIS
  OSAGE                 LYON                  FRANKLIN
  COFFEY                ANDERSON

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 4, 2:30 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Lyon	30 min
May 4, 2:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Jefferson	25 min
May 4, 2:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Lyon, Morris, Wabaunsee	41 min
May 4, 3:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Jefferson	17 min
May 4, 4:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Anderson	26 min
May 4, 4:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Cloud	64 min

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.