Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2015

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 106, NWS Topeka, KS

June 21, 2015Brown County, Nemaha County, Kansas

NWS Topeka, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 21, 2015, 11:30 AM CDT for Brown County, Nemaha County, Kansas. It was in force for 40 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jun 21, 2015, 11:30 AM CDT (16:30 UTC)
Expired
Jun 21, 2015, 12:10 PM CDT
In force
40 min
Issued by
NWS Topeka, KS
Area
Storm-based polygon
Hail
1.0 in
Wind
60.0 mph

Counties Brown County, KS, Nemaha County, KS

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 98 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:30 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Topeka, KS (KFOE), launched 12:00Z, 4.5 hours before the alert went out and 90 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 2015-06-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1785 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 2015-06-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 153 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
1785 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-241 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1089 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
153 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
139 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Topeka, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jun 21, 7:17 AM CDT, 4 hours 13 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 21, 7:17 AM CDT, 4 hours 13 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
717 AM CDT Sun Jun 21 2015

...Update to aviation forecast discussion...

.SHORT TERM...(Today and Tonight)
Issued at 327 AM CDT SUN JUN 21 2015

A broad upper level ridge extends east from the southwestern US,
across the southern plains and east to the southeast US. The main
mid and upper level jet continues to be nearly zonal across the
northern and central plains. At the surface a weak cold front
extended across the northern counties of the CWA, then
west-southwest into central and western KS. This boundary should
remain nearly stationary this morning unless elevated storms develop
and produce outflow to push it south.

A few low amplitude troughs were embedded within the zonal flow
across the central plains. One H5 trough was moving east across
southeast SD and eastern NE. This trough may amplify a bit as it
moves east into IA and WI through the day. This will cause the upper
flow to become west-northwest with the southern edge of the mid and
upper level jet sagging south across extreme northern KS and
northern MO. The second low amplitude H5 trough was located across
NE and will dig east-southeast into southeast NE and northwest MO
late this afternoon.

The HRRR/ARW/NMM show a complex of storms developing across western
NE and moving southeast across the CWA after 12Z. This complex will
be elevated storms and should not be severe. However, I have my
doubt that these model solutions are accurate since the only area of
elevated convection is much farther north across southwest SD and
northern NE. An early area of thunderstorms that had been moving
east-southeast across central NE has dissipated into an area of
light showers and will remain north of the CWA. Farther northeast,
stronger isentropic lift over a weak cold front/outflow boundary has
caused elevated thunderstorms to develop across northern MO through
the night.

At this time I will be leaning more towards the 6Z NAM that keeps
most of the elevated thunderstorms north and northeast of the CWA
this morning. I kept slight chance pops a bit farther south across
the northern and northeast counties, in case some the meso-scale
models turn out to be accurate with the more southerly forecast for
elevated storms to develop during the mid morning hours. Any
elevated storms across the northeast counties should push northeast
into MO after 18Z.

This afternoon the weak boundary will slowly push northeast to the
NE border. The weak H5 trough across western NE this morning will
move east-southeast into southeast NE and northwest MO by 00Z SUN.
Ascent ahead of this trough may cool 700mb temps enough for isolated
thunderstorms to develop across northwest MO. These storms may back
build west along the boundary into northeast KS. As the H5 trough
digs southeast into north central MO any isolated to scattered
storms should move east of the CWA after 00Z. If surface based
storms develop late this afternoon across northeast KS they could be
strong to severe. 0-6km effective shear will increase to 40 to 45
KTS with 5,000 J/KG of MLCAPE. Thus any organized updraft with
mid-level rotation could produce large hail despite the warm
temperatures aloft. Damaging winds and brief heavy rainfall will
also be possible with any surface based thunderstorms late this
afternoon.

Highs Today should reach the lower to mid 90s across the CWA. The
northeast counties may be slightly cooler. Heat indices will only
rise to the upper 90s to around 101 degrees.

Tonight skies will become mostly clear. Overnight lows will drop
into the lower to mid 70s.

.LONG TERM...(Monday through Saturday)
Issued at 327 AM CDT SUN JUN 21 2015

Winds ramp up through Monday morning in strong late-June pressure
gradient and deep mixing. Dew points will be the main challenge and
thus their impact in apparent temps as front enters northern areas
in the afternoon. There is fairly good agreement with lower level
moisture depth to keep dewpoints in the mid 60s to near 70 for
heat index values peaking around 105, but with specifics of this
and front timing still uncertain am not confident enough in an
Advisory at this point. Warm mid levels should keep afternoon to
early evening front-forced precip in check, but moisture pooling
along and behind the front aloft and front mixing back north
brings at least small precip potential to northern areas later
Monday night through Tuesday evening. High temperatures Tuesday
could vary considerably from north to south with boundary and
potential precip. Have about 10 degrees from central to northern
areas at this point with southern areas possibly seeing apparent
temps around 102.

Precipitation chances begin to increase from north to south
Wednesday night into Friday with zonal upper flow becoming more
northwest and front sinking south through eastern Kansas. Temps
Wednesday will likely bring heat indices back to around 100 with
steady moderation occuring into the weekend. Details in shortwave
specifics brings some decrease in PoPs Friday night and Saturday to
near-normal late-June values.

&&

.AVIATION...(For the 12Z TAFs through 12Z Monday Morning)
Issued at 645 AM CDT SUN JUN 21 2015

Expect VFR conditions through the next 24 hours. South-southwest
winds will increase this afternoon to 10 KTS to 14 KTS with gusts of
18 KTS to 22 KTS. Isolated thunderstorms should remain north.

&&

.TOP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NONE.
&&

SHORT TERM...Gargan
LONG TERM...65
AVIATION...Gargan
Hazardous weather outlook, Jun 21, 5:06 AM CDT, 6 hours 24 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
506 AM CDT SUN JUN 21 2015

KSZ008>012-020>024-026-034>040-054>056-058-059-221015-
REPUBLIC-WASHINGTON-MARSHALL-NEMAHA-BROWN-CLOUD-CLAY-RILEY-
POTTAWATOMIE-JACKSON-JEFFERSON-OTTAWA-DICKINSON-GEARY-MORRIS-
WABAUNSEE-SHAWNEE-DOUGLAS-LYON-OSAGE-FRANKLIN-COFFEY-ANDERSON-
506 AM CDT SUN JUN 21 2015

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL...NORTH
CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST KANSAS.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT.

THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS THIS MORNING NORTHEAST
OF A LINE FROM CONCORDIA TO LAWRENCE...AND THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS
EVENING NORTHEAST OF A LINE FROM SENECA TO LAWRENCE. ANY STORM
THAT FORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING COULD BECOME SEVERE
WITH DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS AND HAIL AROUND AN INCH IN
DIAMETER.

MINOR FLOODING OF THE BIG BLUE RIVER NEAR BLUE RAPIDS IS FORECAST
TO PERSIST THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. SEE THE LATEST FLOOD
STATEMENT FOR DETAILS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY.

AFTERNOON HEAT INDEX VALUES AROUND 105 ARE POSSIBLE MONDAY.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION SHOULD NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT.

&&

MORE DETAILED INFORMATION CAN BE ACCESSED AT...
HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/TOP/SITREP

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jun 21, 11:14 AM CDT, 16 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Local storm report, Jun 21, 11:19 AM CDT, 11 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Special weather statement, Jun 21, 11:20 AM CDT, 10 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Local storm report, Jun 21, 11:22 AM CDT, 8 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Local storm report, Jun 21, 11:27 AM CDT, 3 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Local storm report, Jun 21, 11:28 AM CDT, 2 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

The office that day

Everything else NWS Topeka, KS issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 21, 10:17 AM CDTSpecial Weather StatementTOPNemaha43 min
Jun 21, 10:43 AM CDTSpecial Weather StatementTOPBrown32 min
Jun 21, 10:56 AM CDTSpecial Weather StatementTOPMarshall34 min
Jun 21, 11:03 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPMarshall, Washington27 min
Jun 21, 11:20 AM CDTSpecial Weather StatementTOPBrown25 min
Jun 21, 11:25 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPMarshall50 min
Jun 21, 11:54 AM CDTSpecial Weather StatementTOPBrown36 min
Jun 21, 12:12 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPMarshall, Nemaha27 min
Jun 21, 1:13 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementTOPNemaha32 min
Jun 21, 1:42 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementTOPBrown18 min
Jun 21, 1:47 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTOPBrown, Jackson28 min
Jun 21, 1:57 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementTOPPottawatomie, Wabaunsee33 min
Jun 21, 2:28 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementTOPShawnee32 min
Jun 21, 2:52 PM CDTSpecial Weather StatementTOPDouglas38 min
Jun 21, 3:53 PM CDTHeat AdvisoryTOPBrown, Clay, Cloud, Dickinson, Douglas, Franklin and 14 more27 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kansas, 2015Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.