Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Watches in 2004
Tornado Watch 185
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 11, 2004, 1:40 PM MDT for Baca County, Prowers County, Colorado; 25 counties in Kansas; 11 counties in Nebraska. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 11, 2004, 1:40 PM MDT (19:40 UTC)
- Expired
- May 11, 2004, 8:00 PM MDT
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
All 38 counties
Baca County, CO, Prowers County, CO, Cheyenne County, KS, Decatur County, KS, Finney County, KS, Gove County, KS, Grant County, KS, Gray County, KS, Greeley County, KS, Hamilton County, KS, Haskell County, KS, Kearny County, KS, Lane County, KS, Logan County, KS, Meade County, KS, Morton County, KS, Norton County, KS, Rawlins County, KS, Scott County, KS, Seward County, KS, Sheridan County, KS, Sherman County, KS, Stanton County, KS, Stevens County, KS, Thomas County, KS, Wallace County, KS, Wichita County, KS, Chase County, NE, Dawson County, NE, Dundy County, NE, Frontier County, NE, Furnas County, NE, Gosper County, NE, Hayes County, NE, Hitchcock County, NE, Lincoln County, NE, Perkins County, NE, Red Willow County, NE
The radar
The Goodland radar (KGLD), 84 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:43 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
1 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 11, 4:55 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD | Logan, Wallace | 65 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
Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 12:00Z, 7.7 hours before the alert went out and 170 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 489 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -209 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 914 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 31 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 102 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 83 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.8
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
WWUS20 KWNS 111943
SEL5
SPC WW 111940
COZ000-KSZ000-NEZ000-120200-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 185
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
240 PM CDT TUE MAY 11 2004
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
EASTERN COLORADO
WESTERN KANSAS
SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA
EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 240 PM UNTIL 900
PM CDT.
TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.
THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 65 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 55 MILES NORTHEAST OF IMPERIAL NEBRASKA TO 20 MILES
EAST OF ELKHART KANSAS.
REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA.
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.
OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 183...WW 184...
DISCUSSION...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP ALONG N/S DRY LINE
VICINITY CO/KS BORDER AS STRONG HEATING CONTINUES. STRONG DEEP
LAYER SHEAR AND STEEP LAPSE RATES ALONG WITH MUCAPES E OF DRY LINE
FROM 2000-3000 J/KG WILL SUPPORT LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. BY
LATE THIS AFTERNOON AS SHEAR PROFILES INCREASE POTENTIAL FOR
TORNADIC SUPERCELLS WILL ALSO INCREASE.
AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 550.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 23040.
...HALES
410,0993 365,1001 365,1024 410,1020SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 10, 7:06 PM MDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Arapahoe, Elbert, Kit Carson, Lincoln, Logan and 6 more | 114 min |
| May 10, 7:30 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, Elbert and 6 more | 5 hr |
| May 10, 9:45 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Sedgwick | 4 hr |
| May 11, 1:00 PM MDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baca, Prowers | 2 hr |
| May 10, 6:07 PM MDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cheyenne, Finney, Gove, Grant, Gray, Greeley and 17 more | 2 hr |
| May 10, 6:15 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Cheyenne, Decatur, Finney, Ford, Gove, Graham and 24 more | 5 hr |
| May 10, 8:34 PM MDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cheyenne, Clark, Decatur, Finney, Ford, Gove and 18 more | 86 min |
| May 11, 4:20 PM MDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Decatur, Finney, Gove, Grant, Gray, Haskell and 10 more | 115 min |
| May 10, 9:19 PM MDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Banner, Scotts Bluff, Sioux | 116 min |
| May 11, 12:27 AM MDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Arthur, Brown, Cherry, Grant, Hooker, Keya Paha and 3 more | 63 min |
| May 11, 12:32 PM MDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cherry, Dawes, Sheridan | 118 min |
| May 11, 12:55 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Arthur, Cherry, Garden, Grant, Hooker, Keith and 4 more | 5 hr |
| May 11, 4:04 PM MDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cherry, Grant, Hooker, Keya Paha | 116 min |
| May 11, 5:40 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Antelope, Blaine, Boyd, Brown, Holt, Keya Paha and 5 more | 6 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Kansas, 2004Tornado Watches in Nebraska, 2004Tornado Watches in Colorado, 2004Every tornado watch in 2004
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.