Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2023

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 310

June 15, 20236 counties in Kansas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at Jun 15, 2023, 5:28 PM CDT for 6 counties in Kansas. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jun 15, 2023, 5:28 PM CDT (22:28 UTC)
Expired: Jun 15, 2023, 8:00 PM CDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 1 in
Strongest gust expected: 55 kt

Counties Barber County, KS, Edwards County, KS, Harper County, KS, Kingman County, KS, Kiowa County, KS, Pratt County, KS

The radar

The Vance AFB radar (KVNX), 96 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:31 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: 10%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 5%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 10%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 10%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 10%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 50%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 15, 5:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	DDC	Edwards, Ford, Kiowa	53 min
Jun 15, 5:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	DDC	Clark, Comanche, Ford, Kiowa	67 min
Jun 15, 6:34 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	DDC	Barber, Comanche, Kiowa, Pratt	56 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 12:00Z, 10.5 hours before the alert went out and 119 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 32 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -436 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2029 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 55 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 120 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted.

666 
WWUS20 KWNS 152225
SEL0  
SPC WW 152225
KSZ000-160100-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
Severe Thunderstorm Watch Number 310
NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK
530 PM CDT Thu Jun 15 2023

The NWS Storm Prediction Center has issued a

* Severe Thunderstorm Watch for portions of 
  South-central Kansas

* Effective this Thursday afternoon and evening from 530 PM until
  800 PM CDT.

* Primary threats include...
  Isolated damaging wind gusts to 65 mph possible

SUMMARY...QLCS over southwest Kansas should spread east-southeast
with northern portion weakening in time across south-central Kansas.

The severe thunderstorm watch area is approximately along and 45
statute miles east and west of a line from 40 miles north northwest
of Medicine Lodge KS to 15 miles south of Medicine Lodge KS. For a
complete depiction of the watch see the associated watch outline
update (WOUS64 KWNS WOU0).

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

REMEMBER...A Severe Thunderstorm Watch means conditions are
favorable for severe thunderstorms in and close to the watch area.
Persons in these areas should be on the lookout for threatening
weather conditions and listen for later statements and possible
warnings. Severe thunderstorms can and occasionally do produce
tornadoes.

&&

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 306...WW 307...WW
308...WW 309...

AVIATION...A few severe thunderstorms with hail surface and aloft to
1 inch. Extreme turbulence and surface wind gusts to 55 knots. A few
cumulonimbi with maximum tops to 450. Mean storm motion vector
28030.

...Grams

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 15, 12:44 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Finney, Grant, Gray, Hamilton, Haskell, Kearny and 5 more	2 hr
Jun 15, 1:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Clark, Comanche, Finney, Ford, Gove, Grant and 16 more	6 hr
Jun 15, 3:20 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Finney, Grant, Gray, Greeley, Hamilton, Haskell and 8 more	85 min
Jun 15, 4:53 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Barber, Clark, Comanche, Edwards, Ford, Gray and 6 more	2 hr

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Kansas, 2023 Every severe thunderstorm watch in 2023

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.