Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Warnings in 2003

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Topeka, KS

May 6, 2003Lyon County, Kansas

NWS Topeka, KS issued this tornado warning at May 6, 2003, 10:54 AM CDT for Lyon County, Kansas. It was in force for 21 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 6, 2003, 10:54 AM CDT (15:54 UTC)
Expired: May 6, 2003, 11:15 AM CDT
In force: 21 min
Issued by: NWS Topeka, KS
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Lyon County, KS

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 54 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:58 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 6, 8:50 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	4 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 12:00Z, 3.9 hours before the alert went out and 66 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: 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

The text

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

961 
WFUS53 KTOP 061554
TORTOP
KSC111-061615-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
1053 AM CDT TUE MAY 6 2003

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TOPEKA HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  CENTRAL LYON COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL KANSAS

* UNTIL 1115 AM CDT

* AT 1048 AM CDT...THE PUBLIC REPORTED A TORNADO JUST NORTH OF 
EMPORIA MOVING EAST AROUND 30 MPH.

IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY BUILDING. AS A
LAST RESORT...SEEK SHELTER IN A CULVERT...DITCH OR LOW SPOT AND COVER
YOUR HEAD.

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

LAT...LON 3843 9618 3860 9621 3866 9596 3848 9594

$$

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 6, 8:29 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Ottawa	46 min
May 6, 9:13 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Clay, Dickinson, Ottawa	47 min
May 6, 9:24 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Dickinson	66 min
May 6, 9:43 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Geary, Riley	47 min
May 6, 10:00 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Morris	45 min
May 6, 11:06 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Osage	39 min
May 6, 11:27 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Douglas, Jefferson, Shawnee	48 min
May 6, 11:37 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Lyon	23 min
May 6, 11:40 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Douglas, Franklin	65 min
May 6, 11:45 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Osage	15 min
May 6, 12:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Marshall, Pottawatomie, Riley	41 min
May 6, 3:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Anderson	50 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.