Alert archive / Kansas / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2026

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 178, NWS Wichita, KS

May 18, 2026Sumner County, Kansas

NWS Wichita, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 18, 2026, 10:43 PM CDT for Sumner County, Kansas. It was in force for 47 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: May 18, 2026, 10:43 PM CDT (03:43 UTC)
Expired: May 18, 2026, 11:30 PM CDT
In force: 47 min
Issued by: NWS Wichita, KS
Area: Storm-based polygon
Damage threat: Considerable
Hail: 1.75 in
Wind: 60.0 mph

County Sumner County, KS

The radar

The Wichita radar (KICT), 47 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:45 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
May 18, 6:14 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	7 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 00:00Z, 3.7 hours before the alert went out and 222 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1368 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 71 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 173 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 581 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Wichita, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 18, 6:46 PM CDT, 3 hours 57 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 18, 6:46 PM CDT, 3 hours 57 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, May 18, 12:58 PM CDT, 9 hours 45 minutes before

Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service Wichita KS
1258 PM CDT Mon May 18 2026

KSZ032-033-047>053-067>072-082-083-091>096-098>100-191800-
Russell-Lincoln-Barton-Ellsworth-Saline-Rice-McPherson-Marion-Chase-
Reno-Harvey-Butler-Greenwood-Woodson-Allen-Kingman-Sedgwick-Harper-
Sumner-Cowley-Elk-Wilson-Neosho-Chautauqua-Montgomery-Labette-
1258 PM CDT Mon May 18 2026

This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of central Kansas,
east central Kansas, south central Kansas and southeast Kansas.

.DAY ONE...This Afternoon and Tonight

Scattered to numerous thunderstorms are expected to redevelop this
afternoon over central Kansas. Some of the storms will quickly
become severe and could produce significant severe weather. The
stronger storms will be capable of producing damaging winds around
70 mph, up to baseball size hail, tornadoes, and heavy rainfall. A
few strong tornadoes are possible. Storms should congeal into a
line of storms and travel slowly southeast later this evening. Once
this happens the risk of severe weather will begin to decrease
through the late night hours. The primary risk will then transition
to mainly damaging winds and heavy rainfall.

Strong south winds gusting up to 45 mph will affect portions of
central, south central, and southeast Kansas today. A wind advisory
is in effect until 10 PM.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Tuesday through Sunday

Additional off-and-on chances for showers and thunderstorms are
possible Tuesday through week's end, but widespread severe weather
is not expected with this activity.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

Spotter activation will be needed this afternoon and evening.

&&

For a graphical version of this information, see our webpage at:
https://www.weather.gov/erh/ghwo?wfo=ict

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 18, 6:27 PM CDT, 4 hours 16 minutes before

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Local storm report, May 18, 6:33 PM CDT, 4 hours 10 minutes before

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Local storm report, May 18, 6:36 PM CDT, 4 hours 7 minutes before

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Local storm report, May 18, 6:42 PM CDT, 4 hours 1 minute before

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Local storm report, May 18, 6:43 PM CDT, 4 hours before

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Local storm report, May 18, 6:49 PM CDT, 3 hours 54 minutes before

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The office that day

Everything else NWS Wichita, KS issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 18, 7:12 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Butler, Chase, Greenwood, Harvey, McPherson, Marion	48 min
May 18, 7:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Kingman, Reno, Sedgwick	45 min
May 18, 7:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Butler, Chase, Greenwood, Harvey, Marion	49 min
May 18, 8:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Butler, Kingman, Reno, Sedgwick	45 min
May 18, 8:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Butler, Chase, Greenwood, Marion	39 min
May 18, 8:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	ICT	Harvey, Kingman, Reno, Sedgwick, Sumner	64 min
May 18, 9:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	ICT	Butler, Harvey, Sedgwick	40 min
May 18, 9:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Butler, Chase, Greenwood	50 min
May 18, 9:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Butler, Sedgwick	25 min
May 18, 9:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Harper, Kingman, Sedgwick, Sumner	64 min
May 18, 9:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Butler, Chase, Greenwood	47 min
May 18, 11:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Butler, Cowley	27 min
May 18, 11:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Cowley, Sumner	43 min
May 18, 11:46 PM CDT	Areal Flood Warning	ICT	Allen, Butler, Elk, Greenwood, Wilson, Woodson	8 hr
May 18, 11:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Cowley, Sumner	46 min
May 19, 12:21 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Allen, Elk, Greenwood, Neosho, Wilson, Woodson	43 min
May 19, 12:37 AM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Cowley	53 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kansas, 2026 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2026

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.