Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Watches in 2008

Tornado Watch 229

April 25, 20084 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 25, 2008, 1:13 AM CDT for 4 states. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Apr 25, 2008, 1:13 AM CDT (06:13 UTC)
Expired
Apr 25, 2008, 5:50 AM CDT
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 25 counties

Fremont County, IA, Montgomery County, IA, Page County, IA, Atchison County, KS, Brown County, KS, Clay County, KS, Cloud County, KS, Doniphan County, KS, Jackson County, KS, Marshall County, KS, Nemaha County, KS, Pottawatomie County, KS, Republic County, KS, Riley County, KS, Washington County, KS, Andrew County, MO, Atchison County, MO, Holt County, MO, Nodaway County, MO, Gage County, NE, Jefferson County, NE, Johnson County, NE, Nemaha County, NE, Pawnee County, NE, Richardson County, NE

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 121 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 06:12 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.

What SPC expected

The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.

Two or more tornadoes
40%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
20%
Ten or more severe wind reports
30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
30%
Ten or more severe hail reports
60%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
90%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 25, 1:13 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXNemaha, Otoe, Richardson19 min
Apr 25, 1:18 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningTOPRepublic, Washington3 hr
Apr 25, 1:23 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXFremont52 min
Apr 25, 1:24 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXGage, Jefferson, Saline51 min
Apr 25, 1:30 AM CDTTornado WarningTOPCloud, Republic, Washington30 min
Apr 25, 1:45 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAXAtchison, Nodaway30 min
Apr 25, 1:46 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningOAXGage, Jefferson, Johnson, Pawnee3 hr
Apr 25, 1:52 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXFremont, Page38 min
Apr 25, 2:03 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXGage, Johnson, Nemaha, Otoe, Pawnee27 min
Apr 25, 2:10 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXFremont, Mills, Montgomery, Page35 min
Apr 25, 2:14 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAXNodaway46 min
Apr 25, 2:28 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXJohnson, Nemaha, Otoe, Pawnee, Richardson62 min
Apr 25, 3:06 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAXAndrew, Atchison, Holt, Nodaway39 min
Apr 25, 3:43 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAXAndrew, Gentry, Holt, Nodaway47 min
Apr 25, 3:50 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPBrown, Jackson, Nemaha40 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

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 00:00Z, 6.2 hours before the alert went out and 147 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, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 2008-04-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 956 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, Topeka, KS at 00:00Z on 2008-04-25The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 140 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
956 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-138 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
777 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
140 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
219 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
1.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000
WWUS20 KWNS 250615
SEL9  
SPC WW 250615
IAZ000-KSZ000-MOZ000-NEZ000-251200-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 229
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
115 AM CDT FRI APR 25 2008

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

       SOUTHWEST IOWA
       NORTHEASTERN KANSAS
       NORTHWEST MISSOURI
       SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA

EFFECTIVE THIS FRIDAY MORNING FROM 115 AM UNTIL 700 AM 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 APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 45 STATUTE
MILES NORTH AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 15 MILES WEST OF CONCORDIA
KANSAS TO 35 MILES SOUTHEAST OF SHENANDOAH IOWA.  FOR A COMPLETE
DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE
(WOUS64 KWNS WOU9).

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 227...WW 228...

DISCUSSION...ISOLATED BUT POTENTIALLY STRONG TORNADOES POSSIBLE
OVERNIGHT INVOF WARM FRONT ACROSS THE LWR MO VLY...WHERE
INCREASINGLY MOIST 70+ KT SSWLY LLJ WILL IMPINGE ON
SLOWLY-RETREATING OUTFLOW BOUNDARY.  A TORNADO THREAT WILL ALSO
EXIST AS LONG-LIVED...ISOLATED...AND APPARENTLY SFC-BASED SUPERCELL
NOW APPROACHING CNK CONTINUES E INTO INCREASINGLY MOIST LOW-LEVEL
ENVIRONMENT.

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 26030.


...CORFIDI

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 25, 12:07 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAdair, Adams, Cass, Clarke, Dallas, Decatur and 15 more7 hr
Apr 25, 12:55 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCPage35 min
Apr 25, 2:24 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdair, Adams, Cass, Clarke, Dallas, Decatur and 14 more66 min
Apr 25, 3:18 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCFremont, Montgomery, Page57 min
Apr 25, 4:22 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAppanoose, Benton, Cedar, Clarke, Clinton, Davis and 31 more23 min
Apr 25, 4:51 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAppanoose, Benton, Black Hawk, Buchanan, Cedar, Clinton and 23 more5 hr
Apr 25, 9:10 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClinton, Jackson, Scott65 min
Apr 25, 12:21 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCedar, Clinton, Davis, Delaware, Des Moines, Henry and 14 more54 min
Apr 25, 1:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCCedar, Clinton, Des Moines, Dubuque, Henry, Iowa and 12 more7 hr
Apr 25, 3:28 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClinton, Louisa, Scott62 min
Apr 25, 3:41 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCCedar, Clinton, Des Moines, Dubuque, Jackson, Jones and 4 more4 hr
Apr 25, 5:18 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClinton, Louisa, Scott57 min
Apr 25, 6:01 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClinton, Louisa, Scott59 min
Apr 24, 8:55 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCheyenne, Decatur, Gove, Graham, Logan, Norton and 6 more95 min
Apr 24, 10:20 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBrown, Clay, Cloud, Dickinson, Geary, Jackson and 14 more7 hr
Apr 24, 11:55 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBrown, Clay, Cloud, Dickinson, Geary, Jackson and 14 more65 min
Apr 25, 5:39 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAtchison, Brown, Doniphan, Jackson36 min
Apr 25, 6:38 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllen, Anderson, Bourbon, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Coffey and 17 more67 min
Apr 25, 2:15 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarry, Camden, Christian, Dallas, Dent, Douglas and 13 more90 min
Apr 25, 6:40 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCButler, Carter, Oregon, Reynolds, Ripley, Shannon and 1 more65 min
Apr 25, 6:06 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAntelope, Blaine, Boyd, Brown, Garfield, Holt and 5 more6 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Kansas, 2008Tornado Watches in Nebraska, 2008Tornado Watches in Missouri, 2008Every tornado watch in 2008

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.