Alert archive / Missouri / Tornado Watches in 2015

Tornado Watch 184

May 16, 2015Bourbon County, Cherokee County, Crawford County, Kansas; 17 counties in Missouri

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 16, 2015, 10:21 PM CDT for Bourbon County, Cherokee County, Crawford County, Kansas; 17 counties in Missouri. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 16, 2015, 10:21 PM CDT (03:21 UTC)
Expired
May 17, 2015, 3:01 AM CDT
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt

Counties Bourbon County, KS, Cherokee County, KS, Crawford County, KS, Barry County, MO, Barton County, MO, Benton County, MO, Cedar County, MO, Christian County, MO, Dade County, MO, Greene County, MO, Hickory County, MO, Jasper County, MO, Lawrence County, MO, McDonald County, MO, Newton County, MO, Polk County, MO, St. Clair County, MO, Stone County, MO, Taney County, MO, Vernon 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
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
30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
60%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 16, 11:02 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGFBourbon, Crawford43 min
May 16, 11:35 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGFBourbon, Cherokee, Crawford55 min
May 17, 12:12 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGFBarton, Cedar, St. Clair, Vernon48 min
May 17, 12:38 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGFCherokee37 min
May 17, 12:44 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGFBenton, Cedar, Hickory, St. Clair46 min
May 17, 12:52 AM CDTTornado WarningSGFCherokee23 min
May 17, 1:10 AM CDTTornado WarningSGFJasper, Newton35 min
May 17, 1:13 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGFBarton, Cedar, Dade, Jasper47 min
May 17, 1:16 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGFBarry, Lawrence, McDonald, Newton44 min
May 17, 1:29 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGFDade, Jasper, Lawrence, Newton46 min
May 17, 1:34 AM CDTFlash Flood WarningSGFCherokee6 hr
May 17, 1:44 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGFBarry, Christian, Greene, Lawrence, Stone31 min
May 17, 1:46 AM CDTTornado WarningSGFCedar, Dade, Polk29 min
May 17, 1:49 AM CDTTornado WarningSGFChristian, Greene, Lawrence26 min
May 17, 1:56 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGFBenton, Cedar, Hickory, Polk, St. Clair64 min
May 17, 2:08 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGFBarry, Christian, Dallas, Greene, Lawrence, Polk and 3 more52 min
May 17, 2:10 AM CDTTornado WarningSGFGreene17 min
May 17, 2:15 AM CDTTornado WarningSGFDallas, Hickory, Polk, St. Clair25 min
May 17, 2:44 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningSGFChristian, Douglas, Webster, Wright61 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 00:00Z, 3.4 hours before the alert went out and 77 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, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2015-05-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1727 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Springfield, MO at 00:00Z on 2015-05-17The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 127 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
1727 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1056 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
127 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
218 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.4
Supercell composite
11.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 16, 8:31 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCJohnson, Linn, Miami, Wyandotte89 min
May 16, 9:24 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllen, Butler, Chautauqua, Cowley, Elk, Greenwood and 5 more96 min
May 16, 10:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCLinn, Miami4 hr
May 17, 1:43 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarry, Benton, Camden, Christian, Cole, Dallas and 20 more92 min
May 17, 2:06 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCCamden, Dallas, Dent, Douglas, Howell, Laclede and 10 more5 hr
May 17, 4:27 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCarter, Crawford, Dent, Howell, Iron, Oregon and 6 more93 min
May 16, 7:14 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCaddo, Carter, Cleveland, Comanche, Cotton, Garvin and 13 more91 min
May 16, 7:30 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdair, Cherokee, Craig, Creek, Delaware, Haskell and 16 more90 min
May 16, 8:42 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCAdair, Atoka, Bryan, Cherokee, Choctaw, Coal and 27 more8 hr
May 16, 8:47 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCanadian, Carter, Cleveland, Coal, Cotton, Garvin and 18 more88 min
May 16, 11:34 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAtoka, Bryan, Carter, Cherokee, Coal, Craig and 23 more86 min

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.