Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Watches in 2011

Tornado Watch 871

November 7, 201113 counties in Kansas; 6 counties in Oklahoma

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Nov 7, 2011, 5:37 PM CST for 13 counties in Kansas; 6 counties in Oklahoma. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Nov 7, 2011, 5:37 PM CST (23:37 UTC)
Expired
Nov 8, 2011, 1:00 AM CST
In force
7 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
1 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt

Counties Allen County, KS, Bourbon County, KS, Chautauqua County, KS, Cherokee County, KS, Cowley County, KS, Crawford County, KS, Elk County, KS, Greenwood County, KS, Labette County, KS, Montgomery County, KS, Neosho County, KS, Wilson County, KS, Woodson County, KS, Craig County, OK, Nowata County, OK, Osage County, OK, Ottawa County, OK, Pawnee County, OK, Washington County, OK

The radar

The Tulsa radar (KINX), 131 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:37 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
30%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
20%
Ten or more severe wind reports
40%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
10%
Ten or more severe hail reports
10%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
5%
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
Nov 7, 6:11 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSAOsage49 min
Nov 7, 6:12 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTChautauqua44 min
Nov 7, 8:42 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSACreek, Osage, Pawnee, Tulsa63 min
Nov 7, 9:46 PM CSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTSANowata, Osage, Rogers, Tulsa, Washington59 min
Nov 7, 11:37 PM CSTFlash Flood WarningTSACreek, Osage, Tulsa, Washington3 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

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 12:00Z, 11.6 hours before the alert went out and 192 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, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 2011-11-07Temperature 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, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 2011-11-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 87 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
1478 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
62 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
87 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
200 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

789 
WWUS20 KWNS 072338
SEL1
SPC WW 072338
KSZ000-OKZ000-080700-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 871
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
540 PM CST MON NOV 7 2011

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

       SOUTHEAST KANSAS
       NORTHEAST OKLAHOMA

EFFECTIVE THIS MONDAY AFTERNOON AND TUESDAY MORNING FROM 540 PM
UNTIL 100 AM CST.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 60 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 25 MILES NORTH OF CHANUTE
KANSAS TO 20 MILES WEST OF TULSA OKLAHOMA.  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 870...

DISCUSSION...NRN END OF N CNTRL OK SQLN WITH EMBEDDED
SUPERCELLS/SMALLER SCALE CIRCULATIONS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE SLOWLY
EWD THROUGH LATE TNGT...WHILE STORMS MOVE MORE RAPIDLY NNE ALONG IT.
LOW LVL LAPSE RATES WILL REMAIN WEAK.  BUT STRENGTHENING LOW LVL
WIND FIELD ASSOCIATED BOTH WITH DIURNAL CYCLE AND WITH APPROACH OF
NM UPR VORT SUGGEST POTENTIAL FOR LOCALLY DMGG WIND AND ISOLD
TORNADOES AS BOUNDARY LAYER MOISTURE CONTINUES TO SLOWLY INCREASE
ACROSS REGION.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1 INCH. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 450.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 23035.


...CORFIDI

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Nov 7, 1:30 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarber, Butler, Chautauqua, Cowley, Elk, Greenwood and 6 more2 hr
Nov 7, 4:58 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCChautauqua, Elk, Labette, Montgomery, Neosho, Wilson92 min
Nov 6, 7:00 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCarter, Garvin, Jefferson, Johnston, Love, Marshall and 2 more90 min
Nov 7, 7:52 AM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlfalfa, Beckham, Blaine, Canadian, Custer, Dewey and 15 more83 min
Nov 7, 12:27 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBeckham, Caddo, Comanche, Cotton, Custer, Greer and 6 more93 min
Nov 7, 1:11 PM CSTTornado WatchSPCBeckham, Blaine, Caddo, Canadian, Comanche, Cotton and 17 more8 hr
Nov 7, 5:51 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBlaine, Caddo, Canadian, Comanche, Custer, Garfield and 10 more114 min
Nov 7, 5:53 PM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCLove, Marshall67 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Kansas, 2011Tornado Watches in Oklahoma, 2011Every tornado 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.