Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Watches in 2012
Tornado Watch 40
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Feb 28, 2012, 5:41 PM CST for 17 counties in Kansas. It was in force for 3 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Feb 28, 2012, 5:41 PM CST (23:41 UTC)
- Expired
- Feb 28, 2012, 8:15 PM CST
- In force
- 3 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
Counties Barton County, KS, Butler County, KS, Chase County, KS, Cowley County, KS, Ellsworth County, KS, Harper County, KS, Harvey County, KS, Kingman County, KS, Lincoln County, KS, Marion County, KS, McPherson County, KS, Reno County, KS, Rice County, KS, Russell County, KS, Saline County, KS, Sedgwick County, KS, Sumner County, KS
The radar
The Wichita radar (KICT), 78 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:42 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
- 20%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 20%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 20%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 20%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 50%
Warnings issued inside it
6 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 28, 6:18 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Kingman, Reno | 42 min |
| Feb 28, 6:30 PM CST | Tornado Warning | ICT | Reno | 30 min |
| Feb 28, 6:58 PM CST | Tornado Warning | ICT | Harvey, McPherson, Reno | 32 min |
| Feb 28, 7:25 PM CST | Tornado Warning | ICT | McPherson, Marion | 50 min |
| Feb 28, 7:52 PM CST | Tornado Warning | ICT | Chase, Marion | 38 min |
| Feb 28, 8:07 PM CST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | ICT | Cowley, Sumner | 53 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, 11.7 hours before the alert went out and 186 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
- 501 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 57 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 309 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 304 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
643
WWUS20 KWNS 290023
SEL0
SPC WW 290023
KSZ000-290500-
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 40
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
545 PM CST TUE FEB 28 2012
THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
CENTRAL KANSAS
EFFECTIVE THIS TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 545 PM UNTIL
1100 PM CST.
TORNADOES...HAIL TO 1.5 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 55 STATUTE
MILES EAST AND WEST OF A LINE FROM 25 MILES NORTH NORTHWEST OF
SALINA KANSAS TO 45 MILES SOUTH OF WICHITA KANSAS. FOR A
COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH OUTLINE
UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU0).
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 39...
DISCUSSION...CONVECTION HAS INCREASED ALONG THE DRYLINE...AND A FEW
SUSTAINED STORMS MAY EMERGE IN THE NEXT 1-2 HOURS WITHIN THE WEAK
INSTABILITY/STRONG VERTICAL SHEAR ENVIRONMENT. THE EXTREMELY STRONG
DEEP-LAYER SHEAR WILL TEND TO DELAY STORM MATURATION...BUT A
SUFFICIENTLY MOIST AND STRONG LOW-LEVEL SHEAR ENVIRONMENT WILL FAVOR
SOME RISK FOR A TORNADO OR TWO WITH ANY PERSISTENT SUPERCELLS.
OTHERWISE...ISOLATED LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING GUSTS WILL BE POSSIBLE.
LATER TONIGHT...THERE WILL ALSO BE SOME RISK FOR ADDITIONAL STORM
DEVELOPMENT AS THE COLD FRONT OVERTAKES THE DRYLINE ACROSS
CENTRAL/ERN KS.
AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 1.5 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE
WIND GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO
400. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 24050.
...THOMPSONSPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 28, 2:25 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Cloud, Ellis, Graham, Jewell, Marshall, Mitchell and 7 more | 3 hr |
| Feb 28, 3:53 PM CST | Tornado Watch | SPC | Clay, Cloud, Dickinson, Geary, Jewell, Mitchell and 8 more | 5 hr |
| Feb 28, 5:15 PM CST | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Barton, Brown, Butler, Chase, Clay, Dickinson and 26 more | 2 hr |
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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.