Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2011

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 314

May 20, 201136 counties in Kansas; 23 counties in Nebraska; 8 counties in Oklahoma

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at May 20, 2011, 2:32 PM CDT for 36 counties in Kansas; 23 counties in Nebraska; 8 counties in Oklahoma. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 20, 2011, 2:32 PM CDT (19:32 UTC)
Expired
May 20, 2011, 9:57 PM CDT
In force
7 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 67 counties

Barber County, KS, Barton County, KS, Clark County, KS, Clay County, KS, Cloud County, KS, Comanche County, KS, Dickinson County, KS, Edwards County, KS, Ellis County, KS, Ellsworth County, KS, Harper County, KS, Harvey County, KS, Jewell County, KS, Kingman County, KS, Kiowa County, KS, Lincoln County, KS, Marion County, KS, McPherson County, KS, Mitchell County, KS, Osborne County, KS, Ottawa County, KS, Pawnee County, KS, Phillips County, KS, Pratt County, KS, Reno County, KS, Republic County, KS, Rice County, KS, Rooks County, KS, Rush County, KS, Russell County, KS, Saline County, KS, Sedgwick County, KS, Smith County, KS, Stafford County, KS, Sumner County, KS, Washington County, KS, Adams County, NE, Buffalo County, NE, Butler County, NE, Clay County, NE, Fillmore County, NE, Franklin County, NE, Hall County, NE, Hamilton County, NE, Harlan County, NE, Howard County, NE, Jefferson County, NE, Kearney County, NE, Merrick County, NE, Nance County, NE, Nuckolls County, NE, Phelps County, NE, Polk County, NE, Saline County, NE, Seward County, NE, Sherman County, NE, Thayer County, NE, Webster County, NE, York County, NE, Alfalfa County, OK, Ellis County, OK, Garfield County, OK, Grant County, OK, Harper County, OK, Major County, OK, Woods County, OK, Woodward County, OK

The radar

The Grand Island radar (KUEX), 123 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:35 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
20%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
5%
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
20%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 20, 5:37 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCPratt38 min
May 20, 5:58 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTReno62 min
May 20, 6:50 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCPratt40 min
May 20, 8:00 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCPratt30 min
May 20, 8:11 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTKingman64 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 12:00Z, 7.5 hours before the alert went out and 196 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, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2011-05-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2011-05-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -59 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
3052 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
58 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-59 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
27 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 19, 8:17 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarber, Barton, Clark, Clay, Cloud, Comanche and 29 more118 min
May 19, 8:46 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCBarber, Barton, Clark, Clay, Cloud, Comanche and 34 more6 hr
May 19, 11:13 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarber, Barton, Clark, Clay, Cloud, Comanche and 29 more2 hr
May 20, 9:11 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllen, Anderson, Bourbon, Cherokee, Crawford, Douglas and 9 more2 hr
May 20, 1:52 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarber, Barton, Comanche, Edwards, Ellsworth, Jewell and 11 more113 min
May 20, 6:01 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarber, Barton, Clay, Cloud, Comanche, Edwards and 27 more59 min
May 19, 7:47 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCaddo, Canadian, Comanche, Cotton, Grady, Kiowa and 1 more118 min
May 19, 11:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCHarmon, Jackson, Tillman6 hr
May 20, 2:58 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCComanche, Jackson, Kiowa, Tillman, Washita92 min
May 20, 10:30 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBryan, Choctaw, Haskell, Latimer, LeFlore, McCurtain and 2 more60 min
May 20, 11:03 AM CDTTornado WatchSPCAdair, Choctaw, Haskell, Latimer, LeFlore, McCurtain and 2 more7 hr
May 20, 1:28 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdair, Cherokee, Choctaw, Haskell, Latimer, LeFlore and 3 more62 min
May 20, 4:00 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCChoctaw, LeFlore, McCurtain, Pushmataha60 min
May 20, 5:56 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCMcCurtain3 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Kansas, 2011Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Nebraska, 2011Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Oklahoma, 2011Every severe thunderstorm watch in 2011

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.