Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Watches in 2023

Tornado Watch 211

May 11, 20234 counties in Colorado; 35 counties in Kansas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 11, 2023, 11:22 AM MDT for 4 counties in Colorado; 35 counties in Kansas. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 11, 2023, 11:22 AM MDT (17:22 UTC)
Expired
May 11, 2023, 7:00 PM MDT
In force
8 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2.5 in
Strongest gust expected
60 kt
All 39 counties

Cheyenne County, CO, Kiowa County, CO, Kit Carson County, CO, Yuma County, CO, Cheyenne County, KS, Clark County, KS, Comanche County, KS, Decatur County, KS, Edwards County, KS, Ellis County, KS, Finney County, KS, Ford County, KS, Gove County, KS, Graham County, KS, Grant County, KS, Gray County, KS, Greeley County, KS, Hamilton County, KS, Haskell County, KS, Hodgeman County, KS, Kearny County, KS, Kiowa County, KS, Lane County, KS, Logan County, KS, Meade County, KS, Ness County, KS, Norton County, KS, Pawnee County, KS, Rawlins County, KS, Rush County, KS, Scott County, KS, Seward County, KS, Sheridan County, KS, Sherman County, KS, Stevens County, KS, Thomas County, KS, Trego County, KS, Wallace County, KS, Wichita County, KS

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 41 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:21 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
50%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
20%
Ten or more severe wind reports
40%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
20%
Ten or more severe hail reports
70%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
50%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
90%

Warnings issued inside it

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 11, 11:46 AM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDKit Carson, Yuma44 min
May 11, 11:56 AM MDTTornado WarningGLDYuma16 min
May 11, 12:35 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDCheyenne, Rawlins25 min
May 11, 12:38 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDYuma22 min
May 11, 12:59 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDRawlins31 min
May 11, 1:23 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDCheyenne22 min
May 11, 1:55 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDSherman20 min
May 11, 1:58 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningGLDCheyenne, Kit Carson, Yuma6 hr
May 11, 2:15 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDRawlins, Thomas30 min
May 11, 2:26 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDGove19 min
May 11, 2:43 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threatGLDGove, Logan, Sheridan, Thomas34 min
May 11, 2:48 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningGLDCheyenne, Rawlins6 hr
May 11, 2:56 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDRawlins19 min
May 11, 3:01 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDThomas14 min
May 11, 3:13 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDRawlins17 min
May 11, 3:28 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUBKiowa32 min
May 11, 4:34 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDCheyenne, Kit Carson41 min
May 11, 4:41 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDCheyenne19 min
May 11, 4:51 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDLogan, Wallace28 min
May 11, 4:53 PM MDTTornado Warning Tornado observedGLDCheyenne21 min
May 11, 4:57 PM MDTTornado Warning Tornado observedGLDCheyenne21 min
May 11, 5:04 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDWallace26 min
May 11, 5:09 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDNorton8 min
May 11, 5:20 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDSherman, Wallace40 min
May 11, 5:28 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDLogan, Sherman, Thomas, Wallace47 min
May 11, 5:37 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDSherman23 min
May 11, 5:41 PM MDTTornado Warning Tornado observedGLDSherman21 min
May 11, 5:41 PM MDTTornado Warning Tornado observedGLDSherman19 min
May 11, 6:10 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDLogan, Thomas50 min
May 11, 6:17 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDLogan, Thomas31 min
May 11, 6:31 PM MDTTornado Warning Tornado observedGLDRawlins, Thomas29 min
May 11, 6:35 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDGove, Logan, Sheridan, Thomas29 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, 5.4 hours before the alert went out and 196 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 12:00Z on 2023-05-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 520 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 12:00Z on 2023-05-11The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 36 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
520 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-87 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
736 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
36 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
46 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 10, 6:32 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBaca88 min
May 11, 2:49 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCPhillips, Sedgwick86 min
May 11, 10:58 AM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarber, Barton, Cheyenne, Clark, Comanche, Decatur and 30 more3 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Kansas, 2023Tornado Watches in Colorado, 2023Every tornado 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.