Alert archive / Kansas / Mesoscale Discussions in 2026

Mesoscale Discussion 1221

June 20, 202639 counties in Kansas; Harper County, Woods County, Oklahoma

The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Jun 20, 2026, 11:24 PM CDT for 39 counties in Kansas; Harper County, Woods County, Oklahoma. It was in force for 96 min.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jun 20, 2026, 11:24 PM CDT (04:24 UTC)
Expired
Jun 21, 2026, 1:00 AM CDT
In force
96 min
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Concerning
Severe thunderstorm watch 359...361
All 41 counties

Barber County, KS, Barton County, KS, Chase County, KS, Clark County, KS, Clay County, KS, Cloud County, KS, Comanche County, KS, Dickinson County, KS, Edwards County, KS, Ellsworth County, KS, Ford County, KS, Geary County, KS, Gray County, KS, Harper County, KS, Harvey County, KS, Hodgeman County, KS, Kingman County, KS, Kiowa County, KS, Lincoln County, KS, Marion County, KS, Marshall County, KS, McPherson County, KS, Meade County, KS, Morris County, KS, Ottawa County, KS, Pawnee County, KS, Pottawatomie County, KS, Pratt County, KS, Reno County, KS, Rice County, KS, Riley County, KS, Rush County, KS, Russell County, KS, Saline County, KS, Sedgwick County, KS, Stafford County, KS, Sumner County, KS, Wabaunsee County, KS, Washington County, KS, Harper County, OK, Woods County, OK

The radar

The Wichita radar (KICT), 93 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 04:27 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 watches that followed

Watches SPC issued over any of the same counties within four hours of this discussion.

The nearest sounding before it

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 00:00Z, 4.4 hours before the alert went out and 147 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 2026-06-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1502 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 2026-06-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 107 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
1502 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-177 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1559 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
107 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
335 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
5.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted.

906 
ACUS11 KWNS 210425
SWOMCD
SPC MCD 210424 
KSZ000-NEZ000-OKZ000-210600-

Mesoscale Discussion 1221
NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK
1124 PM CDT Sat Jun 20 2026

Areas affected...portions of western into central Kansas

Concerning...Severe Thunderstorm Watch 359...361...

Valid 210424Z - 210600Z

The severe weather threat for Severe Thunderstorm Watch 359, 361
continues.

SUMMARY...Severe gusts will remain a concern with the ongoing MCS
for at least the next few hours.

DISCUSSION...A mature cold-pool-driven MCS continues to propagate
southeastward across western into central KS, with several recent
measured severe gusts noted. Recent KICT inbound velocity data shows
that a pronounced rear-inflow jet persists with this MCS, as well as
a book-end/line-end mesovortex on its northern flank. Furthermore,
this MCS will continue to progress southeastward amid a highly
sheared and buoyant airmass, characterized by 50 kts of effective
bulk shear (oriented roughly normal to the MCS leading line) and
2000+ J/kg MLCAPE, driven by 8+ C/km mid-level lapse rates. Given
the highly organized storm structure and favorable ambient
supporting environment, severe gusts will likely continue with this
MCS for at least a few more hours.

..Squitieri.. 06/21/2026

...Please see www.spc.noaa.gov for graphic product...

ATTN...WFO...OAX...TOP...ICT...OUN...GID...DDC...AMA...

LAT...LON   38120065 38409974 39679754 40019690 39989644 39489610
            38679621 37789685 37189738 36779817 36539919 36579987
            36840045 38120065 

MOST PROBABLE PEAK TORNADO INTENSITY...UP TO 90 MPH
MOST PROBABLE PEAK WIND GUST...65-80 MPH
MOST PROBABLE PEAK HAIL SIZE...1.00-1.75 IN

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 20, 7:08 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCGove, Lane, Logan, Scott, Wichita37 min
Jun 20, 7:22 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBarton, Chase, Clay, Cloud, Dickinson, Edwards and 26 more8 hr
Jun 20, 8:29 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarton, Edwards, Ellis, Ellsworth, Finney, Ford and 17 more91 min
Jun 20, 9:42 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarber, Barton, Butler, Clark, Comanche, Cowley and 33 more63 min
Jun 20, 9:59 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBarber, Clark, Comanche, Finney, Ford, Grant and 14 more6 hr
Jun 20, 11:47 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllen, Anderson, Atchison, Bourbon, Chautauqua, Coffey and 21 more58 min
Jun 21, 12:02 AM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCAllen, Anderson, Atchison, Bourbon, Butler, Chautauqua and 23 more6 hr
Jun 21, 2:36 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllen, Anderson, Bourbon, Butler, Chase, Chautauqua and 24 more114 min
Jun 21, 5:27 AM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllen, Bourbon, Butler, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Cowley and 10 more63 min
Jun 21, 12:51 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCheyenne, Rawlins, Sherman, Thomas114 min
Jun 21, 1:46 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCCheyenne, Decatur, Gove, Graham, Greeley, Logan and 7 more7 hr
Jun 21, 3:01 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarber, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Comanche, Cowley, Crawford and 8 more119 min
Jun 21, 3:33 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCheyenne, Decatur, Rawlins, Sherman, Thomas, Wallace117 min
Jun 21, 5:19 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBarton, Edwards, Ellis, Finney, Ford, Graham and 18 more56 min
Jun 21, 5:21 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAllen, Bourbon, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Crawford, Elk and 4 more84 min
Jun 21, 5:40 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCChautauqua, Cherokee, Crawford, Elk, Labette, Montgomery and 2 more7 hr
Jun 21, 6:07 PM CDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBarber, Barton, Clark, Comanche, Cowley, Edwards and 27 more7 hr
Jun 21, 6:12 PM CDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAlfalfa, Blaine, Custer, Dewey, Ellis, Garfield and 6 more2 hr

Nearby

Mesoscale Discussions in Kansas, 2026Mesoscale Discussions in Oklahoma, 2026Every mesoscale discussion 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.