Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Watches in 2005
Tornado Watch 255
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 11, 2005, 9:50 PM CDT for 34 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, 9:50 PM CDT (02:50 UTC)
- Expired
- May 12, 2005, 5:00 AM CDT
- In force
- 7 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
All 47 counties
Clark County, KS, Decatur County, KS, Edwards County, KS, Ellis County, KS, Finney County, KS, Ford County, KS, Gove County, KS, Graham County, KS, Grant County, KS, Gray County, KS, Haskell County, KS, Hodgeman County, KS, Jewell County, KS, Kearny County, KS, Kiowa County, KS, Lane County, KS, Logan County, KS, Meade County, KS, Morton County, KS, Ness County, KS, Norton County, KS, Osborne County, KS, Pawnee County, KS, Phillips County, KS, Rooks County, KS, Rush County, KS, Russell County, KS, Scott County, KS, Seward County, KS, Sheridan County, KS, Smith County, KS, Stevens County, KS, Trego County, KS, Wichita County, KS, Adams County, NE, Buffalo County, NE, Clay County, NE, Franklin County, NE, Frontier County, NE, Furnas County, NE, Gosper County, NE, Harlan County, NE, Kearney County, NE, Nuckolls County, NE, Phelps County, NE, Red Willow County, NE, Webster County, NE
The radar
The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 95 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:52 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
18 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 11, 9:55 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Adams | 65 min |
| May 11, 10:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LBF | Frontier | 48 min |
| May 11, 10:15 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Buffalo | 60 min |
| May 11, 10:26 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | DDC | Finney | 20 min |
| May 11, 10:34 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Gosper | 56 min |
| May 11, 10:35 PM CDT | Tornado Warning | DDC | Finney | 25 min |
| May 11, 10:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Furnas | 60 min |
| May 11, 10:49 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Kearney | 47 min |
| May 11, 10:56 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Adams, Hall | 64 min |
| May 11, 11:13 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Buffalo | 62 min |
| May 11, 11:25 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD | Logan | 65 min |
| May 11, 11:25 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Gosper, Harlan, Phelps | 65 min |
| May 11, 11:56 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Adams, Hall | 64 min |
| May 12, 12:10 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Buffalo | 32 min |
| May 12, 12:59 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Buffalo, Dawson | 15 min |
| May 12, 1:11 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Webster | 18 min |
| May 12, 1:31 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Clay, Nuckolls | 31 min |
| May 12, 1:45 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GID | Smith | 30 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 00:00Z, 2.8 hours before the alert went out and 96 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
- 2443 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -10 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1347 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 20 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 22 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 108 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 2.2
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
WWUS20 KWNS 120248 CCA
SEL5
SPC WW 120248 CCA
KSZ000-NEZ000-121000-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 255...CORRECTED
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
950 PM CDT WED MAY 11 2005
CORRECTED FOR DESCRIPTION OF KS
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
WESTERN KANSAS
SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA
EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY MORNING FROM 950 PM
UNTIL 500 AM CDT.
TORNADOES...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 70 STATUTE MILES
EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 10 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF KEARNEY
NEBRASKA TO 15 MILES EAST OF LIBERAL KANSAS. FOR A COMPLETE
DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE
(WOUS64 KWNS WOU5).
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...THIS TORNADO WATCH REPLACES TORNADO
WATCH NUMBER 248...TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 249. WATCH NUMBER 248 249
WILL NOT BE IN EFFECT AFTER 950 PM CDT. CONTINUE...WW 250...WW
252...WW 254...
DISCUSSION...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS INCLUDING TORNADO PRODUCING
SUPERCELLS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP ACROSS WATCH AREA NEXT SEVERAL
HOURS AS VERY FAVORABLE SHEAR PROFILES WITH THE INCREASING LOW LEVEL
JET COMBINE WITH AVAILABLE MDT INSTABILITY. BEST THREAT WILL REMAIN
ALONG AND JUST E OF DRY LINE WRN KS AND EWD ALONG E/W/ BOUNDARY
NE/KS BORDER AREA.
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 550.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 22035.
...HALES
405,0974 370,0992 370,1015 405,1002SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 11, 8:01 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cheyenne, Clark, Decatur, Finney, Ford, Gove and 24 more | 59 min |
| May 11, 9:26 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Decatur, Ellis, Finney, Gove, Graham, Grant and 15 more | 64 min |
| May 11, 11:02 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Brown, Marshall, Nemaha | 58 min |
| May 12, 3:44 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Clay, Cloud, Jewell, Marshall, Mitchell, Republic and 1 more | 61 min |
| May 12, 12:40 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Atchison, Brown, Doniphan, Jackson, Jefferson, Marshall and 3 more | 95 min |
| May 12, 1:16 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Barber, Barton, Clark, Cloud, Comanche, Edwards and 21 more | 59 min |
| May 12, 1:35 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Barber, Barton, Clark, Clay, Cloud, Comanche and 29 more | 7 hr |
| May 12, 1:55 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Atchison, Brown, Doniphan, Douglas, Jackson, Jefferson and 10 more | 7 hr |
| May 12, 3:13 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Barber, Barton, Clay, Cloud, Comanche, Dickinson and 28 more | 92 min |
| May 12, 3:48 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Atchison, Brown, Doniphan, Douglas, Jackson, Jefferson and 10 more | 87 min |
| May 12, 5:18 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Barber, Butler, Cowley, Harper, Harvey, Kingman and 2 more | 57 min |
| May 12, 5:55 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Barber, Butler, Chase, Coffey, Comanche, Cowley and 14 more | 7 hr |
| May 11, 7:02 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Arthur, Boone, Buffalo, Butler, Chase and 33 more | 88 min |
| May 11, 11:50 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | Adams, Boone, Buffalo, Butler, Cass, Clay and 30 more | 5 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.