Alert archive / Missouri / Tornado Watches in 2015

Tornado Watch 180

May 16, 201516 counties in Kansas; 18 counties in Missouri

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 16, 2015, 5:57 PM CDT for 16 counties in Kansas; 18 counties in Missouri. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 16, 2015, 5:57 PM CDT (22:57 UTC)
Expired
May 16, 2015, 11:00 PM CDT
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 34 counties

Anderson County, KS, Atchison County, KS, Brown County, KS, Coffey County, KS, Doniphan County, KS, Douglas County, KS, Franklin County, KS, Jackson County, KS, Jefferson County, KS, Johnson County, KS, Leavenworth County, KS, Linn County, KS, Miami County, KS, Osage County, KS, Shawnee County, KS, Wyandotte County, KS, Andrew County, MO, Bates County, MO, Buchanan County, MO, Caldwell County, MO, Carroll County, MO, Cass County, MO, Clay County, MO, Clinton County, MO, Daviess County, MO, DeKalb County, MO, Grundy County, MO, Holt County, MO, Jackson County, MO, Johnson County, MO, Lafayette County, MO, Livingston County, MO, Platte County, MO, Ray County, MO

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
70%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
10%
Ten or more severe hail reports
50%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
80%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 16, 6:43 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPDouglas, Franklin, Jefferson47 min
May 16, 7:01 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAXAtchison, Johnson, Leavenworth, Wyandotte44 min
May 16, 8:03 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningEAXAndrew, Holt, Nodaway4 hr
May 16, 8:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningEAXClay, Clinton, Ray46 min
May 16, 9:12 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningEAXWyandotte6 hr
May 16, 9:59 PM CDTFlash Flood WarningEAXCaldwell, Clinton, Daviess, DeKalb, Ray6 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 (KFOE), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 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, Topeka, KS at 12:00Z on 2015-05-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 768 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 12:00Z on 2015-05-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 60 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
768 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-17 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
632 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
60 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
77 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 15, 8:05 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClark, Ford, Grant, Gray, Haskell, Meade and 4 more2 hr
May 16, 12:43 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarton, Clark, Edwards, Ellis, Ford, Graham and 15 more92 min
May 16, 10:55 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCButler, Chautauqua, Cowley, Elk, Greenwood, Sumner95 min
May 16, 12:01 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCFinney, Grant, Hamilton, Haskell, Kearny, Morton and 3 more89 min
May 16, 1:15 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCDecatur, Gove, Graham, Lane, Logan, Ness and 8 more90 min
May 16, 2:41 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCClark, Decatur, Finney, Ford, Gove, Graham and 24 more5 hr
May 16, 3:04 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCButler, Cowley, Elk, Greenwood, Sedgwick, Sumner86 min
May 16, 3:34 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAtchison, Brown, Chase, Coffey, Doniphan, Douglas and 14 more86 min
May 16, 5:12 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCDecatur, Finney, Ford, Gove, Graham, Grant and 21 more93 min
May 16, 5:46 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllen, Anderson, Atchison, Bourbon, Brown, Chase and 20 more59 min
May 16, 6:16 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCButler, Chautauqua, Cowley, Elk, Greenwood, Harper and 3 more59 min
May 16, 6:23 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCDecatur, Ellis, Ford, Gove, Graham, Gray and 10 more97 min
May 16, 6:36 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAllen, Butler, Chautauqua, Cowley, Elk, Greenwood and 6 more5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Missouri, 2015Tornado Watches in Kansas, 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.