Alert archive / Kansas / Mesoscale Discussions in 2016

Mesoscale Discussion 68

February 1, 201617 counties in Kansas; 5 counties in Nebraska

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Feb 1, 2016, 7:37 PM CST for 17 counties in Kansas; 5 counties in Nebraska. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Feb 1, 2016, 7:37 PM CST (01:37 UTC)
Expired
Feb 2, 2016, 12:30 AM CST
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
All 22 counties

Cheyenne County, KS, Decatur County, KS, Gove County, KS, Graham County, KS, Greeley County, KS, Lane County, KS, Logan County, KS, Norton County, KS, Phillips County, KS, Rawlins County, KS, Scott County, KS, Sheridan County, KS, Sherman County, KS, Thomas County, KS, Trego County, KS, Wallace County, KS, Wichita County, KS, Dundy County, NE, Furnas County, NE, Harlan County, NE, Hitchcock County, NE, Red Willow County, NE

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 94 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:39 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

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 00:00Z, 1.6 hours before the alert went out and 163 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, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2016-02-02Temperature 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, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2016-02-02The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 222 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
1548 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
59 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
222 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
310 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted.

663 
ACUS11 KWNS 020138
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 020137 
KSZ000-NEZ000-020630-

MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0068
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0737 PM CST MON FEB 01 2016

AREAS AFFECTED...NW KS...SW NEB

CONCERNING...HEAVY SNOW 

VALID 020137Z - 020630Z

SUMMARY...AREAS OF HEAVY SNOW ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS NW KS
AND SW NEB THIS EVENING. SNOWFALL RATES COULD REACH 1 INCH PER HOUR
WITHIN A FEW LOCATIONS INSIDE THE MCD AREA.

DISCUSSION...LATEST SFC ANALYSIS SHOWS A 997 MB LOW JUST TO THE
NORTHEAST OF RATON PASS WITH UPSLOPE FLOW TO THE NORTH OF THE SFC
LOW OVER MUCH OF THE CNTRL HIGH PLAINS. WIDESPREAD PRECIPITATION HAS
DEVELOPED ACROSS ERN CO AND WRN KS IN AN AREAS OF STRONG LARGE-SCALE
ASCENT AHEAD OF A NEGATIVELY-TILTED UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH EVIDENT ON
WATER VAPOR OVER SRN HIGH PLAINS. AS PRECIPITATION INCREASES ACROSS
THE MCD AREA OVER THE NEXT FEW HOURS...FORECAST SOUNDINGS GRADUALLY
COOL THE LOWER TO MID-LEVELS ACROSS NW KS AND SW NEB SUGGESTING THE
PREFERRED PRECIPITATION TYPE WILL BE SNOW. THE DENDRITIC GROWTH ZONE
IS FORECAST TO BE NEAR 600 MB WITH AN ISOTHERMAL LAYER FAVORABLE FOR
AGGREGATION IN THE 800 TO 700 MB LAYER. THIS COMBINED WITH
INCREASING ISENTROPIC ASCENT WILL CREATE CONDITIONS FAVORABLE FOR
HEAVY SNOW. SNOWFALL RATES WITHIN THE HEAVIEST BANDS COULD REACH 1
INCH PER HOUR ESPECIALLY LATE THIS EVENING AS THE UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH
MOVES INTO THE REGION FROM THE SOUTHWEST.

..BROYLES.. 02/02/2016

...PLEASE SEE WWW.SPC.NOAA.GOV FOR GRAPHIC PRODUCT...

ATTN...WFO...GID...LBF...DDC...GLD...

LAT...LON   38380038 38150155 38580195 40340173 40439946 39509919
            38380038

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Feb 2, 3:39 AM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCDecatur, Norton, Phillips, Rawlins, Smith6 hr
Feb 2, 7:50 AM CSTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBurt, Butler, Colfax, Cuming, Dakota, Dixon and 10 more4 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Kansas, 2016Mesoscale Discussions in Nebraska, 2016Every mesoscale discussion in 2016

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.