Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Watches in 2008
Tornado Watch 356
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 24, 2008, 11:33 PM CDT for 11 counties in Kansas. It was in force for 4 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 24, 2008, 11:33 PM CDT (04:33 UTC)
- Expired
- May 25, 2008, 4:00 AM CDT
- In force
- 4 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 2 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
Counties Barber County, KS, Butler County, KS, Cowley County, KS, Harper County, KS, Harvey County, KS, Kingman County, KS, Pratt County, KS, Reno County, KS, Sedgwick County, KS, Stafford County, KS, Sumner County, KS
What SPC expected
The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.
- Two or more tornadoes
- 30%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 20%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 20%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 5%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 40%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 20%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 50%
Warnings issued inside it
4 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 24, 11:45 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Sumner | 50 min |
| May 24, 11:57 PM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Harper, Kingman | 63 min |
| May 25, 12:56 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Kingman, Sedgwick, Sumner | 48 min |
| May 25, 2:16 AM CDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Sedgwick | 59 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, 4.6 hours before the alert went out and 183 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
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 3050 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 47 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 111 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 144 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000
WWUS20 KWNS 250437
SEL6
SPC WW 250437
KSZ000-250900-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 356
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1135 PM CDT SAT MAY 24 2008
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS
EFFECTIVE THIS SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING FROM 1135 PM
UNTIL 400 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 70 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 25 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF
HUTCHINSON KANSAS TO 45 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF WICHITA KANSAS.
FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH
OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU6).
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 351...WW 352...WW
353...WW 355...
DISCUSSION...CLUSTER OF TSTMS/SUPERCELLS MAY PERSIST THROUGH EARLY
SUNDAY IN WAA ZONE ON NRN FRINGE OF VERY MOIST/WARM AIR MASS OVER
THE SRN PLNS. WIND PROFILES...ALTHOUGH PRESENTLY SUPPORTIVE OF
SUSTAINED SUPERCELLS...SHOULD GRADUALLY BECOME SOMEWHAT LESS
FAVORABLE WITH TIME AS HEIGHTS GRADUALLY RISE OVER THE SRN PLNS IN
WAKE OF DAKOTAS UPR IMPULSE. NEVERTHELESS...GIVEN COMBINATION OF
RICH MOISTURE INFLOW AND STEEP MID LEVEL LAPSE RATES...POTENTIAL
WILL EXIST FOR SVR HAIL AND PERHAPS A TORNADO OR TWO WITH THE KS
STORMS...DESPITE THEIR SLIGHTLY ELEVATED NATURE.
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 23020.
...CORFIDISPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 24, 9:34 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Chautauqua, Cowley, Elk, Harper, Labette, Montgomery and 2 more | 56 min |
| May 25, 3:05 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Butler, Harvey, Sedgwick, Sumner | 55 min |
| May 25, 11:55 AM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Grant, Haskell, Meade, Morton, Seward, Stevens | 65 min |
| May 25, 12:17 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cherokee, Crawford, Labette | 58 min |
| May 25, 12:39 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Clark, Edwards, Finney, Ford, Grant, Gray and 15 more | 5 hr |
| May 25, 1:13 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Cherokee | 7 hr |
| May 25, 2:23 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Barton, Clay, Cloud, Dickinson, Ellis, Ellsworth and 30 more | 67 min |
| May 25, 2:49 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cherokee, Crawford, Labette, Montgomery | 56 min |
| May 25, 3:00 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Barber, Barton, Brown, Clay, Cloud, Comanche and 30 more | 6 hr |
| May 25, 5:29 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Clark, Comanche, Edwards, Finney, Ford, Grant and 11 more | 61 min |
| May 25, 5:51 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Barber, Clark, Comanche, Edwards, Ellis, Finney and 21 more | 7 hr |
| May 25, 6:06 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cherokee | 114 min |
Nearby
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.