Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Watches in 2014

Tornado Watch 96

April 27, 2014Jewell County, Mitchell County, Smith County, Kansas; 37 counties in Nebraska

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Apr 27, 2014, 12:16 PM CDT for Jewell County, Mitchell County, Smith County, Kansas; 37 counties in Nebraska. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Apr 27, 2014, 12:16 PM CDT (17:16 UTC)
Expired
Apr 27, 2014, 7:00 PM CDT
In force
7 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
1.5 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 40 counties

Jewell County, KS, Mitchell County, KS, Smith County, KS, Adams County, NE, Blaine County, NE, Boyd County, NE, Brown County, NE, Buffalo County, NE, Cherry County, NE, Clay County, NE, Custer County, NE, Dawson County, NE, Fillmore County, NE, Franklin County, NE, Garfield County, NE, Greeley County, NE, Hall County, NE, Hamilton County, NE, Holt County, NE, Hooker County, NE, Howard County, NE, Kearney County, NE, Keya Paha County, NE, Lincoln County, NE, Logan County, NE, Loup County, NE, McPherson County, NE, Merrick County, NE, Nance County, NE, Nuckolls County, NE, Phelps County, NE, Polk County, NE, Rock County, NE, Sherman County, NE, Thayer County, NE, Thomas County, NE, Valley County, NE, Webster County, NE, Wheeler County, NE, York County, NE

The radar

The North Platte radar (KLNX), 88 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:19 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
30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
10%
Ten or more severe hail reports
30%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
10%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 27, 12:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFLincoln, Logan57 min
Apr 27, 12:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFLincoln, McPherson46 min
Apr 27, 1:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDFranklin, Kearney44 min
Apr 27, 2:05 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFCherry40 min
Apr 27, 2:13 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDFranklin, Webster47 min
Apr 27, 2:23 PM CDTTornado WarningGIDFranklin, Kearney22 min
Apr 27, 2:34 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDClay, Fillmore, Nuckolls, Thayer41 min
Apr 27, 2:42 PM CDTTornado WarningGIDKearney48 min
Apr 27, 3:15 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDClay, Fillmore45 min
Apr 27, 3:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDAdams, Hall42 min
Apr 27, 3:50 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDClay, Fillmore, Hamilton, York40 min
Apr 27, 4:20 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDBuffalo, Hall, Howard, Sherman40 min
Apr 27, 4:26 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGIDHamilton, Merrick, Nance, Polk, York49 min
Apr 27, 4:54 PM CDTTornado WarningGIDHamilton, Merrick, Polk, York36 min
Apr 27, 5:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFBrown, Rock44 min
Apr 27, 5:47 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFHolt43 min
Apr 27, 6:14 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningLBFBrown, Keya Paha, Rock31 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, 5.3 hours before the alert went out and 88 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 2014-04-27Temperature 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, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 12:00Z on 2014-04-27The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 27 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
3019 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
27 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
106 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.

256 
WWUS20 KWNS 271715
SEL6  
SPC WW 271715
KSZ000-NEZ000-280000-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 96
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1215 PM CDT SUN APR 27 2014

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 
  EXTREME NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS
  MUCH OF CENTRAL NEBRASKA

* EFFECTIVE THIS SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 1215 PM UNTIL
  700 PM CDT.

* PRIMARY THREATS INCLUDE...
  A COUPLE TORNADOES POSSIBLE
  ISOLATED DAMAGING WIND GUSTS TO 70 MPH POSSIBLE
  ISOLATED LARGE HAIL EVENTS TO 1.5 INCHES IN DIAMETER POSSIBLE

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS APPROXIMATELY ALONG AND 70 STATUTE
MILES NORTH AND SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 5 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST OF
MULLEN NEBRASKA TO 50 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF HASTINGS NEBRASKA. 
FOR A COMPLETE DEPICTION OF THE WATCH SEE THE ASSOCIATED WATCH
OUTLINE UPDATE (WOUS64 KWNS WOU6).

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

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 94...WW 95...

DISCUSSION...CONVECTION IS DEVELOPING ALONG THE NOSE OF THE DRY SLOT
FROM NRN KS INTO S CENTRAL NEB...AND THESE STORMS SHOULD INTENSIFY
THROUGH THE AFTERNOON WHILE MOVING NWD.  VERTICAL SHEAR WILL BE
SUFFICIENT FOR SUPERCELLS...WITH AN ATTENDANT RISK FOR A COUPLE OF
TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL...AND A FEW DAMAGING GUSTS.

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
450. MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 17030.


...THOMPSON

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Apr 27, 5:09 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAnderson, Atchison, Barber, Barton, Butler, Chase and 46 more96 min
Apr 27, 6:09 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAllen, Anderson, Brown, Butler, Chase, Chautauqua and 41 more6 hr
Apr 27, 7:55 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllen, Anderson, Atchison, Bourbon, Brown, Butler and 40 more95 min
Apr 27, 10:37 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBourbon, Crawford, Doniphan, Johnson, Leavenworth, Linn and 2 more113 min
Apr 27, 11:23 AM CDTTornado WatchSPCBourbon, Cherokee, Crawford, Johnson, Leavenworth, Linn and 2 more8 hr
Apr 27, 11:54 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClay, Cloud, Dickinson, Jewell, Mitchell, Ottawa and 3 more96 min
Apr 27, 4:57 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBourbon, Cherokee, Crawford, Johnson, Linn, Miami and 1 more63 min
Apr 27, 6:10 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBourbon, Cherokee, Crawford, Johnson, Linn, Miami and 1 more95 min
Apr 27, 6:26 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCJohnson, Leavenworth, Miami, Wyandotte8 hr
Apr 27, 12:48 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCKeith2 hr
Apr 27, 3:19 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Arthur, Blaine, Brown, Buffalo, Cherry and 19 more86 min
Apr 27, 6:28 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBlaine, Boyd, Brown, Cherry, Custer, Garfield and 13 more62 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Nebraska, 2014Tornado Watches in Kansas, 2014Every tornado watch in 2014

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.