Alert archive / Missouri / Tornado Watches in 2013

Tornado Watch 190

May 20, 201319 counties in Kansas; 47 counties in Missouri

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 20, 2013, 12:46 PM CDT for 19 counties in Kansas; 47 counties in Missouri. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 20, 2013, 12:46 PM CDT (17:46 UTC)
Expired: May 20, 2013, 8:37 PM CDT
In force: 8 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 2.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 66 counties

Allen County, KS, Anderson County, KS, Bourbon County, KS, Chautauqua County, KS, Cherokee County, KS, Coffey County, KS, Cowley County, KS, Crawford County, KS, Elk County, KS, Franklin County, KS, Greenwood County, KS, Johnson County, KS, Labette County, KS, Linn County, KS, Miami County, KS, Montgomery County, KS, Neosho County, KS, Wilson County, KS, Woodson County, KS, Barry County, MO, Barton County, MO, Bates County, MO, Benton County, MO, Boone County, MO, Callaway County, MO, Camden County, MO, Carroll County, MO, Cass County, MO, Cedar County, MO, Chariton County, MO, Christian County, MO, Clay County, MO, Cole County, MO, Cooper County, MO, Dade County, MO, Dallas County, MO, Greene County, MO, Henry County, MO, Hickory County, MO, Howard County, MO, Jackson County, MO, Jasper County, MO, Johnson County, MO, Laclede County, MO, Lafayette County, MO, Lawrence County, MO, Macon County, MO, Maries County, MO, McDonald County, MO, Miller County, MO, Moniteau County, MO, Morgan County, MO, Newton County, MO, Osage County, MO, Pettis County, MO, Phelps County, MO, Polk County, MO, Pulaski County, MO, Randolph County, MO, Ray County, MO, Saline County, MO, St. Clair County, MO, Stone County, MO, Vernon County, MO, Webster County, MO, Wright County, MO

The radar

The Pleasant Hill radar (KEAX), 69 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:49 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: 80%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 10%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 60%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 95%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 20, 2:46 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Allen	44 min
May 20, 2:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Linn, Miami	42 min
May 20, 2:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Anderson	18 min
May 20, 3:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Linn, Miami	45 min
May 20, 3:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Chautauqua, Elk, Montgomery	44 min
May 20, 3:16 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Benton, Cedar, Hickory, Polk, St. Clair	44 min
May 20, 3:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Bates, Cass, Jackson, Johnson	43 min
May 20, 3:23 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Dallas, Hickory, Polk	52 min
May 20, 3:41 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Chautauqua, Montgomery	49 min
May 20, 4:08 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Camden, Dallas, Laclede	52 min
May 20, 4:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Johnson, Lafayette	46 min
May 20, 4:27 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	ICT	Labette, Montgomery	48 min
May 20, 4:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Montgomery	47 min
May 20, 4:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Cooper, Pettis	43 min
May 20, 4:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Camden, Maries, Miller, Pulaski	28 min
May 20, 4:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Johnson, Pettis, Saline	40 min
May 20, 4:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Labette, Montgomery	63 min
May 20, 4:58 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	EAX	Pettis	3 hr
May 20, 5:00 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	EAX	Johnson, Pettis	30 min
May 20, 5:02 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Chautauqua, Montgomery	43 min
May 20, 5:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Maries, Miller	36 min
May 20, 5:19 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Cooper, Howard, Pettis, Saline	41 min
May 20, 5:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Chariton, Randolph	39 min
May 20, 5:29 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Crawford	46 min
May 20, 5:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Osage	38 min
May 20, 5:40 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Maries	20 min
May 20, 5:42 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	Crawford	33 min
May 20, 5:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Cooper, Howard, Saline	46 min
May 20, 5:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Howard, Randolph	52 min
May 20, 5:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Crawford, Franklin, Gasconade, Osage	46 min
May 20, 6:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Benton, St. Clair	34 min
May 20, 6:14 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	Barton, Cedar, Dade, Vernon	46 min
May 20, 6:22 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Audrain, Boone, Callaway	38 min
May 20, 6:26 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Cherokee	64 min
May 20, 6:33 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	Jasper, Newton	42 min
May 20, 6:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Christian, Greene, Lawrence	62 min
May 20, 6:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Benton, Cedar, Dade, Dallas, Hickory, Polk and 1 more	43 min
May 20, 7:00 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	EAX	Henry	3 hr
May 20, 7:03 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	Dallas, Hickory, Polk	27 min
May 20, 7:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	Dallas, Polk	37 min
May 20, 7:09 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	EAX	Cooper, Howard	6 hr
May 20, 7:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Benton, Camden, Hickory, Miller, Morgan	51 min
May 20, 7:27 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	SGF	Barry, Stone	33 min
May 20, 7:48 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Boone, Callaway, Cole, Moniteau	42 min
May 20, 7:49 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Dade, Greene, Lawrence	41 min
May 20, 7:50 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Camden, Miller, Morgan	40 min
May 20, 8:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Christian, Stone, Taney	41 min
May 20, 8:09 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Camden, Laclede, Maries, Miller, Pulaski, Texas and 1 more	51 min
May 20, 8:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Webster, Wright	49 min
May 20, 8:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LSX	Callaway, Osage	35 min
May 20, 8:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	SGF	Dent, Laclede, Maries, Phelps, Pulaski	59 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

Springfield, MO (KSGF), launched 12:00Z, 5.8 hours before the alert went out and 164 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 4 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -445 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1092 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 69 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 81 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 208 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 4.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 19, 7:13 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Hancock, Henderson, Henry, Mercer, Rock Island, Warren	62 min
May 19, 7:46 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Boone, Bureau, Carroll, Henry, Jo Daviess, Knox and 11 more	59 min
May 19, 8:10 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Boone, Bureau, Carroll, DeKalb, Fulton, Hancock and 25 more	6 hr
May 19, 10:16 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Brown, Pike	59 min
May 19, 10:58 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Boone, Bureau, Carroll, DeKalb, Fulton, Hancock and 22 more	62 min
May 20, 3:27 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Champaign, Christian, DeWitt and 21 more	63 min
May 20, 5:07 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Greene, Jersey and 9 more	23 min
May 20, 5:24 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Adams, Bond, Brown, Calhoun, Cass, Christian and 31 more	7 hr
May 20, 6:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Henderson, Mercer, Warren	5 hr
May 19, 7:55 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allen, Anderson, Atchison, Brown, Chautauqua, Clay and 35 more	65 min
May 19, 9:34 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Chautauqua, Labette, Montgomery, Neosho, Wilson	26 min
May 19, 11:49 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Cherokee	56 min
May 20, 2:44 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Chautauqua, Cherokee, Labette, Montgomery	2 hr
May 20, 8:46 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allen, Anderson, Bourbon, Coffey, Linn, Miami and 3 more	59 min
May 20, 12:26 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allen, Bourbon, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Crawford, Elk and 6 more	2 hr
May 20, 2:31 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allen, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Crawford, Elk, Labette and 4 more	119 min
May 20, 5:38 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Andrew, DeKalb, Gentry, Harrison, Worth	67 min
May 20, 6:53 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Carter, Dent, Douglas, Howell, Iron, Madison and 8 more	67 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Missouri, 2013 Tornado Watches in Kansas, 2013 Every tornado watch in 2013

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.