Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Watches in 2008

Tornado Watch 341

May 23, 2008Kit Carson County, Yuma County, Colorado; 39 counties in Kansas; 10 counties in Nebraska

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 23, 2008, 1:15 PM MDT for Kit Carson County, Yuma County, Colorado; 39 counties in Kansas; 10 counties in Nebraska. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 23, 2008, 1:15 PM MDT (19:15 UTC)
Expired: May 23, 2008, 7:56 PM MDT
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Particularly dangerous situation: Yes
Largest hail expected: 4 in
Strongest gust expected: 70 kt

All 51 counties

Kit Carson County, CO, Yuma County, CO, Barber County, KS, Barton County, KS, Cheyenne County, KS, Clark County, KS, Comanche County, KS, Decatur County, KS, Edwards County, KS, Ellis County, KS, Finney County, KS, Ford County, KS, Gove County, KS, Graham County, KS, Gray County, KS, Greeley County, KS, Haskell County, KS, Hodgeman County, KS, Kearny County, KS, Kiowa County, KS, Lane County, KS, Logan County, KS, Meade County, KS, Ness County, KS, Norton County, KS, Pawnee County, KS, Phillips County, KS, Pratt County, KS, Rawlins County, KS, Rooks County, KS, Rush County, KS, Russell County, KS, Scott County, KS, Seward County, KS, Sheridan County, KS, Sherman County, KS, Stafford County, KS, Thomas County, KS, Trego County, KS, Wallace County, KS, Wichita County, KS, Chase County, NE, Dundy County, NE, Frontier County, NE, Furnas County, NE, Gosper County, NE, Harlan County, NE, Hayes County, NE, Hitchcock County, NE, Phelps County, NE, Red Willow County, NE

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 83 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:17 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.

What SPC expected

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

Two or more tornadoes: 95%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 70%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 60%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 60%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 95%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 80%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 95%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 23, 1:20 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Red Willow	55 min
May 23, 1:26 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LBF	Frontier	49 min
May 23, 1:53 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Decatur, Rawlins	67 min
May 23, 1:57 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Lane, Ness	48 min
May 23, 2:02 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Gove	58 min
May 23, 2:09 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Lane, Ness	16 min
May 23, 2:11 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	GLD	Gove	64 min
May 23, 2:13 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LBF	Frontier	47 min
May 23, 2:16 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Hitchcock, Red Willow	59 min
May 23, 2:18 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	LBF	Frontier	27 min
May 23, 2:27 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Lane	12 min
May 23, 2:37 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Decatur, Gove, Sheridan	38 min
May 23, 2:38 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Dawson, Gosper	67 min
May 23, 2:44 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Finney, Lane, Ness	21 min
May 23, 2:49 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Gray, Haskell, Meade, Seward	56 min
May 23, 3:03 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LBF	Frontier, Lincoln	42 min
May 23, 3:07 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	GLD	Gove, Graham, Sheridan	53 min
May 23, 3:08 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Decatur, Rawlins, Sheridan, Thomas	67 min
May 23, 3:14 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Finney, Gray, Hodgeman, Lane, Ness	46 min
May 23, 3:20 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Finney, Scott	25 min
May 23, 3:23 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Finney, Lane, Scott	52 min
May 23, 3:33 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Gove, Sheridan, Thomas	42 min
May 23, 3:41 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Finney, Gray, Haskell	49 min
May 23, 3:44 PM MDT	Flash Flood Warning	GLD	Gove, Sheridan	6 hr
May 23, 3:44 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LBF	Frontier, Lincoln	46 min
May 23, 3:45 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Lane, Ness, Scott	45 min
May 23, 3:45 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Scott	15 min
May 23, 3:52 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Gove, Logan, Sheridan, Thomas, Wichita	38 min
May 23, 3:52 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	GLD	Decatur, Graham, Norton, Sheridan	53 min
May 23, 3:56 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Finney, Lane	64 min
May 23, 3:58 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Finney, Ford, Gray, Haskell, Hodgeman	47 min
May 23, 4:02 PM MDT	Flash Flood Warning	LBF	Frontier, Hayes	6 hr
May 23, 4:09 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Finney, Gray	51 min
May 23, 4:09 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Finney, Lane	51 min
May 23, 4:15 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Decatur, Rawlins, Sheridan, Thomas	60 min
May 23, 4:15 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	GLD	Gove	60 min
May 23, 4:19 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Finney, Grant, Haskell, Kearny	38 min
May 23, 4:19 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Gove, Logan, Thomas	26 min
May 23, 4:26 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Finney, Lane, Scott	49 min
May 23, 4:26 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	GLD	Thomas	10 min
May 23, 4:27 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Lane	18 min
May 23, 4:30 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Haskell, Meade, Seward	20 min
May 23, 4:33 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Finney, Gray, Haskell	42 min
May 23, 4:33 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Finney, Gray, Hodgeman, Lane, Ness	42 min
May 23, 4:42 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Lane	33 min
May 23, 4:42 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Gove, Sheridan, Thomas	24 min
May 23, 4:44 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Decatur, Sheridan	61 min
May 23, 4:45 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Clark, Ford, Gray, Haskell, Meade	60 min
May 23, 4:47 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Finney, Scott	29 min
May 23, 4:49 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Logan, Wichita	26 min
May 23, 5:00 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Clark, Ford, Gray, Meade	28 min
May 23, 5:04 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Finney, Gray	41 min
May 23, 5:06 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Rawlins	39 min
May 23, 5:10 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Clark, Ford, Meade	50 min
May 23, 5:10 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	GLD	Gove, Graham, Sheridan	65 min
May 23, 5:14 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Finney, Hodgeman, Lane, Ness	46 min
May 23, 5:17 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Decatur, Rawlins, Sheridan, Thomas	42 min
May 23, 5:19 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Lane, Scott	26 min
May 23, 5:25 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Finney, Ford, Gray, Hodgeman	25 min
May 23, 5:25 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Decatur, Norton, Sheridan	52 min
May 23, 5:27 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Finney, Hodgeman, Lane	33 min
May 23, 5:31 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	GLD	Decatur, Graham, Sheridan	44 min
May 23, 5:32 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Rawlins	21 min
May 23, 5:36 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	GLD	Cheyenne, Kit Carson	24 min
May 23, 5:41 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Gove	34 min
May 23, 5:43 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Finney, Hodgeman, Lane, Ness	47 min
May 23, 5:56 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Clark, Comanche, Ford, Kiowa	64 min
May 23, 5:58 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	GLD	Graham, Sheridan	62 min
May 23, 6:00 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Ellis, Hodgeman, Lane, Ness, Rush, Trego	45 min
May 23, 6:02 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Finney, Lane, Ness	43 min
May 23, 6:03 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	GLD	Gove, Graham, Sheridan	42 min
May 23, 6:07 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Decatur, Gove, Sheridan	22 min
May 23, 6:07 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	GLD	Logan, Wallace, Wichita	23 min
May 23, 6:09 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Decatur, Rawlins, Sheridan, Thomas	47 min
May 23, 6:16 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Logan, Sherman, Thomas, Wallace	29 min
May 23, 6:24 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Clark	26 min
May 23, 6:25 PM MDT	Flash Flood Warning	GLD	Graham, Norton	7 hr
May 23, 6:27 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	GLD	Logan, Wichita	33 min
May 23, 6:31 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Lane, Ness, Trego	29 min
May 23, 6:42 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Decatur, Norton, Sheridan	27 min
May 23, 6:43 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Ellis, Ness, Trego	47 min
May 23, 6:46 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Norton	59 min
May 23, 6:47 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Finney, Gray, Haskell, Lane, Meade, Scott	58 min
May 23, 6:50 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Yuma	25 min
May 23, 6:51 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Ness, Trego	39 min
May 23, 6:51 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Gove, Logan, Sheridan, Thomas	39 min
May 23, 6:54 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Clark, Comanche, Edwards, Ford, Kiowa	66 min
May 23, 6:57 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Gove	33 min
May 23, 7:09 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Ellis, Ness, Rush, Trego	51 min
May 23, 7:14 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Cheyenne, Rawlins, Thomas	36 min
May 23, 7:27 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	GID	Rooks	63 min
May 23, 7:29 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Gove, Graham, Sheridan, Thomas	61 min
May 23, 7:32 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Edwards, Kiowa, Pawnee, Pratt, Stafford	58 min
May 23, 7:39 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Barber, Comanche	36 min
May 23, 7:39 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GID	Furnas, Harlan	66 min
May 23, 7:43 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Clark, Comanche, Kiowa	47 min
May 23, 7:50 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	DDC	Ellis, Ness, Trego	55 min
May 23, 7:54 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Clark, Edwards, Finney, Ford, Gray, Hodgeman and 6 more	66 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, 7.3 hours before the alert went out and 214 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 143 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -139 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 510 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 79 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 292 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 253 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000
WWUS20 KWNS 231916
SEL1  
SPC WW 231916
COZ000-KSZ000-NEZ000-240300-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 341
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
215 PM CDT FRI MAY 23 2008

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

       PARTS OF EASTERN COLORADO
       LARGE PART OF WESTERN KANSAS
       PARTS OF SOUTHWESTERN NEBRASKA

EFFECTIVE THIS FRIDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 215 PM UNTIL
1000 PM CDT.

...THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION...

DESTRUCTIVE TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL TO 4 INCHES IN DIAMETER...
THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE
POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 80 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 20 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF
IMPERIAL NEBRASKA TO 40 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF MEDICINE LODGE
KANSAS.  FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED
WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU1).

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 340...

DISCUSSION...VERY UNSTABLE PER 18Z DDC SOUNDING WITH LITTLE
REMAINING CINH IN WARM SECTOR. E/W SURFACE BOUNDARY WILL FOCUS RAPID
DEVELOPMENT OF TORNADIC SUPERCELLS NEAR INTERSECTION OF N/S DRY LINE
IN WRN KS.  WITH VERY STRONG SHEAR POTENTIAL FOR LONG LIVED
SUPERCELLS AND STRONG TORNADOES AS STORMS MOVE RAPIDLY NWD AHEAD OF
APPROACHING UPPER TROUGH/WIND MAX.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 4 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
550. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 19040.


...HALES

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 23, 8:53 AM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Logan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Yuma	67 min
May 23, 12:13 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Larimer, Morgan, Weld	92 min
May 23, 12:41 PM MDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Larimer, Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington and 1 more	6 hr
May 23, 5:02 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Broomfield, Denver, Larimer, Logan, Morgan and 5 more	58 min
May 23, 5:18 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Kit Carson, Yuma	57 min
May 23, 5:37 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington, Weld and 1 more	23 min
May 22, 7:16 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Barber, Barton, Butler, Chase, Chautauqua, Cheyenne and 61 more	29 min
May 22, 8:11 PM MDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Barber, Barton, Butler, Chase, Chautauqua, Clark and 44 more	8 hr
May 22, 10:43 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Barber, Barton, Butler, Chase, Chautauqua, Clark and 45 more	62 min
May 23, 1:01 AM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Barber, Barton, Butler, Chase, Chautauqua, Clay and 36 more	89 min
May 23, 3:22 AM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Barber, Barton, Butler, Comanche, Cowley, Edwards and 21 more	53 min
May 23, 12:58 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clark, Finney, Ford, Gove, Grant, Gray and 12 more	2 hr
May 22, 8:24 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Arthur, Banner, Blaine, Box Butte, Brown, Cherry and 15 more	66 min
May 22, 9:34 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Boone, Butler, Cass, Colfax, Dodge, Douglas and 16 more	56 min
May 23, 4:26 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Boone, Buffalo, Butler, Clay, Colfax and 23 more	64 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Kansas, 2008 Tornado Watches in Nebraska, 2008 Tornado Watches in Colorado, 2008 Every 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.