Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Watches in 2019

Tornado Watch 177

May 17, 201921 counties in Kansas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 17, 2019, 8:52 PM CDT for 21 counties in Kansas. It was in force for 5 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 17, 2019, 8:52 PM CDT (01:52 UTC)
Expired
May 18, 2019, 2:00 AM CDT
In force
5 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2.5 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 21 counties

Barton County, KS, Clark County, KS, Comanche County, KS, Edwards County, KS, Ellis County, KS, Ellsworth County, KS, Ford County, KS, Gray County, KS, Hodgeman County, KS, Kiowa County, KS, Lincoln County, KS, McPherson County, KS, Meade County, KS, Ness County, KS, Pawnee County, KS, Rice County, KS, Rush County, KS, Russell County, KS, Saline County, KS, Stafford County, KS, Trego County, KS

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 80 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:53 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
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
20%
Ten or more severe hail reports
50%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
50%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
70%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 17, 8:52 PM CDTTornado WarningDDCHodgeman, Ness23 min
May 17, 9:07 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCEllis, Hodgeman, Ness, Pawnee, Rush, Trego40 min
May 17, 9:12 PM CDTTornado Warning Tornado observedConsiderable damage threatDDCEdwards, Ford33 min
May 17, 9:27 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCEdwards, Pawnee, Rush31 min
May 17, 9:36 PM CDTTornado Warning Tornado observedConsiderable damage threatDDCEdwards, Ford, Kiowa24 min
May 17, 9:49 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTBarton, Russell56 min
May 17, 9:55 PM CDTTornado Warning Tornado observedConsiderable damage threatDDCEdwards, Pawnee, Stafford50 min
May 17, 9:56 PM CDTTornado WarningICTRussell24 min
May 17, 10:32 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTEllsworth, Lincoln, Russell58 min
May 17, 10:37 PM CDTTornado Warning Tornado observedConsiderable damage threatDDCEdwards, Pawnee, Stafford38 min
May 17, 10:55 PM CDTTornado WarningICTBarton50 min
May 17, 11:20 PM CDTTornado WarningDDCStafford25 min
May 17, 11:44 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTBarton30 min
May 17, 11:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningDDCStafford16 min
May 17, 11:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningICTEllsworth, Rice43 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

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 00:00Z, 1.9 hours before the alert went out and 75 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 2019-05-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2358 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, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2019-05-18The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 314 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
2358 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-51 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1267 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
314 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
353 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
3.4
Supercell composite
22.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 17, 7:00 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCClark, Finney, Ford, Gray, Haskell, Hodgeman and 2 more2 hr
May 17, 7:39 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBarton, Clark, Comanche, Edwards, Ellis, Ford and 11 more3 hr
May 17, 9:55 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCEdwards65 min
May 17, 10:35 PM CDTTornado WatchSPCClay, Cloud, Dickinson, Jewell, Mitchell, Osborne and 3 more3 hr
May 17, 11:14 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarton, Clay, Cloud, Dickinson, Ellis, Ellsworth and 30 more2 hr
May 17, 11:45 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCGeary, Marshall, Nemaha, Pottawatomie, Riley3 hr
May 18, 7:47 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCButler, Chautauqua, Cowley, Elk, Greenwood, Harper and 6 more88 min
May 18, 9:38 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllen, Bourbon, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Crawford, Elk and 4 more2 hr
May 18, 10:07 AM CDTTornado WatchSPCAllen, Anderson, Bourbon, Butler, Chautauqua, Cherokee and 11 more7 hr
May 18, 3:31 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarber, Clark, Comanche, Edwards, Ford, Gray and 6 more119 min
May 18, 3:48 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBarber, Clark, Comanche, Edwards, Ellsworth, Ford and 16 more6 hr
May 18, 6:07 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarber, Butler, Clark, Comanche, Cowley, Edwards and 12 more83 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Kansas, 2019Every tornado watch in 2019

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.