Alert archive / Nebraska / Tornado Watches in 2015

Tornado Watch 127

May 3, 20154 counties in Kansas; 4 counties in Missouri; 5 counties in Nebraska

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 3, 2015, 9:13 PM CDT for 4 counties in Kansas; 4 counties in Missouri; 5 counties in Nebraska. It was in force for 118 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 3, 2015, 9:13 PM CDT (02:13 UTC)
Expired
May 3, 2015, 11:11 PM CDT
In force
118 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt

Counties Brown County, KS, Doniphan County, KS, Marshall County, KS, Nemaha County, KS, Andrew County, MO, Atchison County, MO, Holt County, MO, Nodaway County, MO, Gage County, NE, Johnson County, NE, Nemaha County, NE, Pawnee County, NE, Richardson County, NE

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 125 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:14 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
10%
Ten or more severe hail reports
30%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
50%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 3, 9:29 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXJohnson, Nemaha, Pawnee46 min
May 3, 9:31 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXNemaha29 min
May 3, 10:06 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningOAXJohnson, Nemaha24 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

Topeka, KS (KFOE), launched 00:00Z, 2.2 hours before the alert went out and 121 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 00:00Z on 2015-05-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 590 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 00:00Z on 2015-05-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -21 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
590 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-84 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2450 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-21 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
155 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 3, 7:06 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCNemaha84 min
May 4, 2:56 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAtchison, Barton, Brown, Clay, Cloud, Dickinson and 44 more2 hr
May 4, 3:26 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAtchison, Barton, Brown, Clay, Cloud, Dickinson and 26 more6 hr
May 4, 6:30 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAtchison, Barton, Brown, Clay, Cloud, Dickinson and 33 more90 min
May 3, 10:22 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAtchison, Holt, Nodaway83 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Nebraska, 2015Tornado Watches in Kansas, 2015Tornado Watches in Missouri, 2015Every tornado watch in 2015

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.