Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Watches in 2005
Tornado Watch 248
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 11, 2005, 2:55 PM CDT for 17 counties in Kansas; 13 counties in Nebraska. It was in force for 7 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 11, 2005, 2:55 PM CDT (19:55 UTC)
- Expired
- May 11, 2005, 10:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 7 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
All 30 counties
Clay County, KS, Cloud County, KS, Dickinson County, KS, Ellis County, KS, Geary County, KS, Jewell County, KS, Lincoln County, KS, Mitchell County, KS, Osborne County, KS, Ottawa County, KS, Phillips County, KS, Republic County, KS, Rooks County, KS, Russell County, KS, Saline County, KS, Smith County, KS, Washington County, KS, Adams County, NE, Clay County, NE, Fillmore County, NE, Franklin County, NE, Gosper County, NE, Harlan County, NE, Jefferson County, NE, Kearney County, NE, Nuckolls County, NE, Phelps County, NE, Saline County, NE, Thayer County, NE, Webster County, NE
The radar
The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 49 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:55 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
30 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 11, 3:11 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Kearney | 49 min |
| May 11, 3:39 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Phillips | 66 min |
| May 11, 3:47 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Adams, Webster | 58 min |
| May 11, 3:52 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | GID | Adams, Webster | 38 min |
| May 11, 3:55 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | GID | Furnas, Harlan | 47 min |
| May 11, 4:01 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | GID | Kearney | 44 min |
| May 11, 4:26 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | GID | Adams | 64 min |
| May 11, 4:37 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Dawson, Gosper | 53 min |
| May 11, 4:41 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | GID | Buffalo, Kearney | 49 min |
| May 11, 4:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Nuckolls | 33 min |
| May 11, 4:56 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Marshall, Washington | 49 min |
| May 11, 5:23 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | GID | Adams, Clay | 42 min |
| May 11, 5:31 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | GID | Gosper | 46 min |
| May 11, 5:37 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | GID | Adams, Hall | 4 hr |
| May 11, 5:41 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Washington | 49 min |
| May 11, 5:44 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | TOP | Washington | 3 hr |
| May 11, 6:26 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Phelps | 64 min |
| May 11, 6:30 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TOP | Washington | 30 min |
| May 11, 6:40 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Adams | 52 min |
| May 11, 7:42 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Jefferson | 33 min |
| May 11, 7:44 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Nuckolls | 44 min |
| May 11, 8:08 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Kearney | 67 min |
| May 11, 8:11 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Franklin, Harlan | 64 min |
| May 11, 8:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OAX | Jefferson | 47 min |
| May 11, 8:34 PM CDT | Flash Flood Warning | GID | Adams, Buffalo, Clay, Dawson, Fillmore, Franklin and 18 more | 6 hr |
| May 11, 8:39 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Fillmore | 66 min |
| May 11, 9:15 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Kearney | 63 min |
| May 11, 9:31 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Adams | 13 min |
| May 11, 9:42 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Fillmore | 63 min |
| May 11, 9:55 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Adams | 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
N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 12:00Z, 7.9 hours before the alert went out and 218 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
- 1 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 508 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 49 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 189 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 190 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
WWUS20 KWNS 111951
SEL8
SPC WW 111951
KSZ000-NEZ000-120300-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 248
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
255 PM CDT WED MAY 11 2005
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS
SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA
EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 255 PM UNTIL
1000 PM CDT.
...THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION...
DESTRUCTIVE TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL TO 3 INCHES IN DIAMETER...
THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE
POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.
THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 65 STATUTE MILES
NORTH AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 25 MILES NORTH OF HILL CITY KANSAS
TO 45 MILES SOUTH OF BEATRICE NEBRASKA. FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION
OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS
WOU8).
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 245...WW 246...WW 247...
DISCUSSION...VERY RAPID SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT MAY OCCUR
DURING THE NEXT HOUR OR TWO OVER N-CENTRAL KS...WHERE VIS IMAGERY
INDICATES A FEW TOWERS DEVELOPING WITHIN STRONGLY UNSTABLE AND
WEAKLY CAPPED AIR MASS. SHEAR REMAINS SUFFICIENT FOR SUPERCELLS
WITH STRONG LOW LEVEL SHEAR AND PRESENCE OF E-W SFC BOUNDARIES
LIKELY SUPPORTING A THREAT OF STRONG TORNADOES ALONG WITH VERY LARGE
HAIL THIS EVENING.
AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 3 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24025.
...EVANS
404,0995 403,0964 384,0964 384,0995SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 10, 7:00 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Cheyenne, Decatur, Norton, Phillips, Rawlins, Smith | 7 hr |
| May 11, 8:41 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Atchison, Brown, Clay, Doniphan, Douglas, Geary and 12 more | 2 hr |
| May 11, 11:45 AM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Atchison, Brown, Doniphan, Jackson, Jefferson, Leavenworth and 6 more | 7 hr |
| May 11, 2:36 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cheyenne, Decatur, Ellis, Finney, Gove, Graham and 27 more | 114 min |
| May 11, 3:10 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Cheyenne, Clark, Decatur, Finney, Ford, Gove and 24 more | 7 hr |
| May 11, 3:41 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Atchison, Brown, Doniphan, Jackson, Jefferson, Leavenworth and 4 more | 94 min |
| May 11, 4:50 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Johnson, Linn, Miami | 6 hr |
| May 11, 4:53 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Clay, Cloud, Dickinson, Ellis, Geary, Jewell and 11 more | 97 min |
| May 11, 5:13 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cheyenne, Clark, Decatur, Finney, Ford, Gove and 24 more | 92 min |
| May 11, 5:25 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Atchison, Brown, Doniphan, Douglas, Franklin, Jackson and 13 more | 2 hr |
| May 11, 6:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Brown, Jackson, Jefferson, Marshall, Nemaha, Pottawatomie and 1 more | 7 hr |
| May 10, 9:14 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Burt, Butler, Colfax, Cuming, Dakota, Dodge and 10 more | 2 hr |
| May 11, 3:55 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Adams, Arthur, Boone, Buffalo, Butler, Chase and 34 more | 8 hr |
| May 11, 4:00 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Antelope, Arthur, Blaine, Boone, Brown, Buffalo and 25 more | 2 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Kansas, 2005Tornado Watches in Nebraska, 2005Every tornado watch in 2005
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.