Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Watches in 2008

Tornado Watch 391

May 29, 20088 counties in Kansas; 6 counties in Nebraska

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 29, 2008, 10:02 PM CDT for 8 counties in Kansas; 6 counties in Nebraska. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 29, 2008, 10:02 PM CDT (03:02 UTC)
Expired
May 30, 2008, 1:46 AM CDT
In force
4 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt

Counties Cloud County, KS, Jewell County, KS, Mitchell County, KS, Osborne County, KS, Phillips County, KS, Republic County, KS, Rooks County, KS, Smith County, KS, Clay County, NE, Fillmore County, NE, Franklin County, NE, Nuckolls County, NE, Thayer County, NE, Webster County, NE

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 45 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:05 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
40%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 29, 10:03 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDJewell, Smith42 min
May 29, 10:09 PM CDTTornado WarningGIDJewell36 min
May 29, 10:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDJewell, Mitchell47 min
May 29, 10:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDFillmore, York22 min
May 29, 10:16 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningGIDNuckolls, Thayer, Webster5 hr
May 29, 10:18 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPCloud, Republic57 min
May 29, 10:30 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDJewell, Mitchell, Osborne, Rooks, Smith45 min
May 29, 10:52 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDJewell26 min
May 29, 11:12 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningTOPRepublic4 hr

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Omaha, NE (KOAX), launched 00:00Z, 3.0 hours before the alert went out and 227 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, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 2008-05-30Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 3876 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Omaha, NE at 00:00Z on 2008-05-30The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 236 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
3876 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-5 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
824 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
236 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
285 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
6.4
Supercell composite
26.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 29, 8:13 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAtchison, Doniphan8 hr
May 29, 9:19 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCFinney, Grant, Gray, Greeley, Hamilton, Haskell and 12 more56 min
May 29, 9:38 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCloud, Decatur, Ellis, Ellsworth, Gove, Graham and 14 more37 min
May 29, 9:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCEllis, Finney, Gove, Graham, Grant, Greeley and 12 more5 hr
May 29, 11:34 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAtchison, Brown, Clay, Doniphan, Jackson, Marshall and 4 more56 min
May 30, 1:37 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBrown, Clay, Cloud, Jackson, Marshall, Mitchell and 5 more53 min
May 30, 2:17 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAtchison, Doniphan88 min
May 30, 2:25 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCFinney, Grant, Gray, Haskell, Hodgeman, Kearny and 4 more65 min
May 30, 2:23 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllen, Anderson, Bourbon, Butler, Chautauqua, Coffey and 16 more97 min
May 30, 2:42 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAllen, Anderson, Bourbon, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Coffey and 15 more7 hr
May 29, 10:21 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCDakota, Dixon24 min

Nearby

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