Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Watches in 2004

Tornado Watch 207

May 16, 200434 counties in Kansas; 20 counties in Nebraska

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 16, 2004, 3:15 PM CDT for 34 counties in Kansas; 20 counties in Nebraska. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 16, 2004, 3:15 PM CDT (20:15 UTC)
Expired
May 16, 2004, 10:00 PM CDT
In force
7 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 54 counties

Cheyenne County, KS, Clark County, KS, Decatur County, KS, Ellis County, KS, Finney County, KS, Ford County, KS, Gove County, KS, Graham County, KS, Grant County, KS, Gray County, KS, Greeley County, KS, Hamilton County, KS, Haskell County, KS, Hodgeman County, KS, Kearny County, KS, Lane County, KS, Logan County, KS, Meade County, KS, Morton County, KS, Ness County, KS, Norton County, KS, Phillips County, KS, Rawlins County, KS, Rooks County, KS, Scott County, KS, Seward County, KS, Sheridan County, KS, Sherman County, KS, Stanton County, KS, Stevens County, KS, Thomas County, KS, Trego County, KS, Wallace County, KS, Wichita County, KS, Arthur County, NE, Buffalo County, NE, Chase County, NE, Custer County, NE, Dawson County, NE, Dundy County, NE, Frontier County, NE, Furnas County, NE, Gosper County, NE, Harlan County, NE, Hayes County, NE, Hitchcock County, NE, Keith County, NE, Lincoln County, NE, Logan County, NE, Perkins County, NE, Phelps County, NE, Red Willow County, NE, Sherman County, NE, Valley County, NE

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 84 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:17 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

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 16, 3:22 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDGosper53 min
May 16, 3:32 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDThomas43 min
May 16, 3:48 PM CDTTornado WarningGLDLogan27 min
May 16, 3:49 PM CDTTornado WarningGIDGosper26 min
May 16, 4:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDThomas46 min
May 16, 4:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDDawson61 min
May 16, 4:15 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDLogan45 min
May 16, 4:17 PM CDTTornado WarningGIDGosper13 min
May 16, 4:47 PM CDTTornado WarningGIDDawson28 min
May 16, 4:49 PM CDTTornado WarningGLDLogan26 min
May 16, 4:57 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDBuffalo48 min
May 16, 4:58 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDThomas32 min
May 16, 5:06 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDSheridan24 min
May 16, 5:13 PM CDTTornado WarningGLDLogan32 min
May 16, 5:15 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDDawson45 min
May 16, 5:31 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFCuster59 min
May 16, 5:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDSherman53 min
May 16, 5:38 PM CDTTornado WarningGLDGove67 min
May 16, 5:44 PM CDTTornado WarningGLDLogan31 min
May 16, 5:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDBuffalo31 min
May 16, 5:52 PM CDTTornado WarningGIDBuffalo23 min
May 16, 5:57 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDRed Willow63 min
May 16, 6:13 PM CDTTornado WarningGLDLogan62 min
May 16, 6:22 PM CDTTornado WarningGIDSherman38 min
May 16, 6:23 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDSheridan37 min
May 16, 6:24 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDPhillips36 min
May 16, 6:31 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDGraham59 min
May 16, 6:35 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCLane, Scott70 min
May 16, 6:41 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFCuster64 min
May 16, 6:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDGove59 min
May 16, 6:56 PM CDTTornado WarningGIDSherman34 min
May 16, 6:56 PM CDTTornado WarningLBFCuster34 min
May 16, 6:59 PM CDTTornado WarningGLDGove46 min
May 16, 7:10 PM CDTTornado WarningDDCLane50 min
May 16, 7:15 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDLogan30 min
May 16, 7:20 PM CDTTornado WarningGIDSherman40 min
May 16, 7:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDGove, Logan62 min
May 16, 7:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCScott75 min
May 16, 7:56 PM CDTTornado WarningDDCNess49 min
May 16, 8:01 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCLane74 min
May 16, 8:28 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningGLDGove, Logan3 hr
May 16, 8:30 PM CDTTornado WarningDDCScott45 min
May 16, 9:17 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCLane, Scott43 min
May 16, 9:26 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCNess64 min
May 16, 9:46 PM CDTTornado WarningDDCHodgeman, Ness44 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, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 154 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, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2004-05-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 193 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, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2004-05-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 166 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
193 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-310 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
753 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
166 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
238 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

413 
WWUS20 KWNS 162014
SEL7  
SPC WW 162015
KSZ000-NEZ000-170300-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 207
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
315 PM CDT SUN MAY 16 2004

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 

       WESTERN KANSAS
       SOUTH AND SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA

EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 315 PM UNTIL 1000
PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 75 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 35 MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF BROKEN BOW NEBRASKA TO
LIBERAL 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.

DISCUSSION...CONVECTION IS NOW FIRING ALONG LEE TROUGH/DRY LINE NEAR
GLD...WITH FURTHER DEVELOPMENT EXPECTED THROUGH THE EVENING.  SHEAR
REMAINS MODEST...YET WILL SUPPORT SUPERCELLS AS STORMS EVOLVE EWD
INTO MODERATE INSTABILITY ACROSS WW.  TORNADO POTENTIAL WILL BE
GREATER IN NRN HALF OF WW...WHERE LOWER LCL HEIGHTS AND GREATER
SHEAR IS COLLOCATED ALONG SURFACE WARM FRONT.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 25025.


...EVANS

413,0984 370,0993 370,1021 413,1014

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 16, 3:02 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCheyenne, Decatur, Finney, Gove, Grant, Gray and 15 more88 min
May 16, 6:04 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClark, Decatur, Ellis, Finney, Ford, Gove and 26 more86 min
May 16, 6:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCClay, Cloud, Jewell, Lincoln, Marshall, Mitchell and 7 more4 hr
May 16, 1:13 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAntelope, Boyd, Brown, Cedar, Dakota, Dixon and 12 more2 hr
May 16, 4:45 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAdams, Antelope, Boone, Boyd, Buffalo, Butler and 29 more5 hr
May 16, 6:55 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Antelope, Boone, Boyd, Buffalo, Butler and 29 more2 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Kansas, 2004Tornado Watches in Nebraska, 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.