Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Watches in 2023

Tornado Watch 219

May 12, 20236 counties in Kansas; 6 counties in Missouri

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 12, 2023, 7:33 PM CDT for 6 counties in Kansas; 6 counties in Missouri. It was in force for 3 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 12, 2023, 7:33 PM CDT (00:33 UTC)
Expired: May 12, 2023, 11:00 PM CDT
In force: 3 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 2 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

Counties Atchison County, KS, Brown County, KS, Doniphan County, KS, Jackson County, KS, Jefferson County, KS, Leavenworth County, KS, Andrew County, MO, Atchison County, MO, Buchanan County, MO, Holt County, MO, Nodaway County, MO, Platte County, MO

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 142 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:32 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: 30%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 20%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 60%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 30%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 80%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 12, 7:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Atchison	25 min
May 12, 7:40 PM CDT	Tornado Warning Tornado observed	TOP	Brown	35 min
May 12, 7:44 PM CDT	Tornado Warning Tornado observed	TOP	Jackson	16 min
May 12, 7:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	TOP	Brown, Jackson	52 min
May 12, 7:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Atchison	33 min
May 12, 8:01 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Doniphan	44 min
May 12, 8:35 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Brown	25 min
May 12, 8:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	EAX	Doniphan	47 min
May 12, 8:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Brown	31 min
May 12, 9:20 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Doniphan	40 min
May 12, 9:44 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Doniphan	46 min
May 12, 10:14 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Doniphan	35 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

Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 00:00Z, 0.6 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: 3056 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -10 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1151 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 153 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 248 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 2.6
Supercell composite: 16.8

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 12, 7:12 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Atchison, Brown, Doniphan, Jackson, Jefferson, Leavenworth	93 min
May 12, 7:29 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allen, Anderson, Chautauqua, Coffey, Douglas, Elk and 8 more	2 hr
May 13, 11:26 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Audrain, Lincoln, Marion, Monroe, Montgomery, Pike and 5 more	2 hr
May 13, 12:01 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adair, Clark, Knox, Lewis, Macon, Putnam and 3 more	119 min
May 13, 12:24 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Crawford, Iron, Jefferson, Lincoln, Madison, Perry and 9 more	7 hr
May 13, 2:38 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Jefferson, Saint Charles, Saint Louis, City of Saint Louis	2 hr
May 13, 6:09 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Iron, Jefferson, Madison, Perry, Sainte Genevieve, Saint Francois	2 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Kansas, 2023 Tornado Watches in Missouri, 2023 Every 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.