Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Watches in 2008

Tornado Watch 571

June 18, 200817 counties in Kansas; 14 counties in Nebraska

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jun 18, 2008, 4:02 PM CDT for 17 counties in Kansas; 14 counties in Nebraska. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jun 18, 2008, 4:02 PM CDT (21:02 UTC)
Expired
Jun 18, 2008, 9:29 PM CDT
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
3 in
Strongest gust expected
70 kt
All 31 counties

Cheyenne County, KS, Decatur County, KS, Gove County, KS, Graham County, KS, Greeley County, KS, Logan County, KS, Norton County, KS, Osborne County, KS, Phillips County, KS, Rawlins County, KS, Rooks County, KS, Sheridan County, KS, Sherman County, KS, Smith County, KS, Thomas County, KS, Wallace County, KS, Wichita County, KS, Buffalo County, NE, Chase County, NE, Dawson County, NE, Dundy County, NE, Franklin County, NE, Frontier County, NE, Furnas County, NE, Gosper County, NE, Harlan County, NE, Hayes County, NE, Hitchcock County, NE, Kearney County, NE, Phelps County, NE, Red Willow County, NE

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 135 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:04 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
70%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
30%
Ten or more severe hail reports
50%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
90%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 18, 4:03 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDGreeley, Wichita57 min
Jun 18, 4:09 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFFrontier, Hayes, Lincoln66 min
Jun 18, 4:23 PM CDTTornado WarningLBFFrontier, Hayes37 min
Jun 18, 4:29 PM CDTTornado WarningGLDCheyenne61 min
Jun 18, 4:29 PM CDTTornado WarningGLDCheyenne61 min
Jun 18, 4:35 PM CDTTornado WarningGLDHitchcock, Red Willow55 min
Jun 18, 4:53 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDGreeley, Wichita36 min
Jun 18, 5:13 PM CDTTornado WarningGLDDecatur, Norton62 min
Jun 18, 5:41 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDRed Willow34 min
Jun 18, 6:07 PM CDTTornado WarningGLDRed Willow23 min
Jun 18, 6:13 PM CDTTornado WarningGLDNorton49 min
Jun 18, 6:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDFurnas46 min
Jun 18, 6:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDSheridan66 min
Jun 18, 6:41 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDPhillips49 min
Jun 18, 6:53 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDGraham55 min
Jun 18, 7:07 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDGove, Sheridan53 min
Jun 18, 7:18 PM CDTTornado WarningGLDGove27 min
Jun 18, 7:54 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDBuffalo, Sherman66 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, 9.0 hours before the alert went out and 136 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, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 12:00Z on 2008-06-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 306 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, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 12:00Z on 2008-06-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 42 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
306 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-452 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1591 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
42 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
187 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 17, 9:26 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarton, Cheyenne, Clay, Cloud, Decatur, Dickinson and 35 more64 min
Jun 17, 10:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCCheyenne, Clay, Cloud, Decatur, Dickinson, Ellis and 23 more6 hr
Jun 17, 11:40 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClay, Cloud, Decatur, Dickinson, Ellis, Ellsworth and 25 more95 min
Jun 18, 2:13 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBarber, Barton, Butler, Clark, Comanche, Cowley and 18 more4 hr
Jun 18, 4:21 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCChautauqua54 min
Jun 18, 1:16 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCCheyenne, Finney, Grant, Gray, Greeley, Hamilton and 15 more8 hr
Jun 18, 3:40 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarton, Clark, Comanche, Decatur, Edwards, Ellis and 29 more35 min
Jun 17, 7:53 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAntelope, Arthur, Banner, Blaine, Boone, Box Butte and 33 more67 min
Jun 18, 1:02 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCheyenne, Kimball28 min
Jun 18, 1:19 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArthur, Blaine, Brown, Cherry, Dawes, Garden and 7 more56 min
Jun 18, 2:19 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCArthur, Banner, Box Butte, Chase, Cherry, Cheyenne and 18 more7 hr
Jun 18, 6:29 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCArthur, Banner, Blaine, Box Butte, Cherry, Cheyenne and 17 more2 hr

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.