Alert archive / Kansas / Mesoscale Discussions in 2026
Mesoscale Discussion 474
The Storm Prediction Center issued this mesoscale discussion at Apr 17, 2026, 12:42 PM CDT for 4 states. It was in force for 3 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Apr 17, 2026, 12:42 PM CDT (17:42 UTC)
- Expired
- Apr 17, 2026, 3:15 PM CDT
- In force
- 3 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Concerning
- Severe potential...watch likely
- Chance of a watch
- 95%
All 87 counties
Allen County, KS, Anderson County, KS, Atchison County, KS, Barber County, KS, Bourbon County, KS, Brown County, KS, Butler County, KS, Chase County, KS, Chautauqua County, KS, Coffey County, KS, Cowley County, KS, Crawford County, KS, Dickinson County, KS, Doniphan County, KS, Douglas County, KS, Elk County, KS, Franklin County, KS, Geary County, KS, Greenwood County, KS, Harper County, KS, Harvey County, KS, Jackson County, KS, Jefferson County, KS, Johnson County, KS, Kingman County, KS, Labette County, KS, Leavenworth County, KS, Linn County, KS, Lyon County, KS, Marion County, KS, Marshall County, KS, McPherson County, KS, Miami County, KS, Montgomery County, KS, Morris County, KS, Nemaha County, KS, Neosho County, KS, Osage County, KS, Pottawatomie County, KS, Reno County, KS, Riley County, KS, Sedgwick County, KS, Shawnee County, KS, Sumner County, KS, Wabaunsee County, KS, Wilson County, KS, Woodson County, KS, Wyandotte County, KS, Andrew County, MO, Bates County, MO, Buchanan County, MO, Caldwell County, MO, Cass County, MO, Clay County, MO, Clinton County, MO, Daviess County, MO, DeKalb County, MO, Gentry County, MO, Holt County, MO, Jackson County, MO, Nodaway County, MO, Platte County, MO, Ray County, MO, Worth County, MO, Richardson County, NE, Alfalfa County, OK, Blaine County, OK, Caddo County, OK, Canadian County, OK, Custer County, OK, Dewey County, OK, Garfield County, OK, Grant County, OK, Kay County, OK, Kingfisher County, OK, Logan County, OK, Major County, OK, Noble County, OK, Nowata County, OK, Oklahoma County, OK, Osage County, OK, Pawnee County, OK, Payne County, OK, Washington County, OK, Washita County, OK, Woods County, OK, Woodward County, OK
The radar
The Wichita radar (KICT), 66 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:45 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 watches that followed
Watches SPC issued over any of the same counties within four hours of this discussion.
The nearest sounding before it
Topeka, KS (KTOP), launched 12:00Z, 5.7 hours before the alert went out and 165 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 2338 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -172 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 934 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 44 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 379 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 354 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.8
- Supercell composite
- 16.5
The text
As transmitted.
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</html>SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 17, 1:40 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Allen, Anderson, Atchison, Barber, Bourbon, Brown and 34 more | 7 hr |
| Apr 17, 3:31 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Allen, Anderson, Atchison, Bourbon, Butler, Chase and 21 more | 89 min |
| Apr 17, 5:10 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Bourbon, Cherokee, Crawford, Labette | 2 hr |
| Apr 17, 5:38 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Chautauqua, Cowley | 2 hr |
| Apr 17, 12:40 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Clark, Scotland | 9 hr |
| Apr 17, 3:04 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Audrain, Callaway, Franklin, Gasconade, Jefferson, Lewis and 12 more | 56 min |
| Apr 17, 3:31 PM CDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Audrain, Boone, Callaway, Cole, Franklin, Gasconade and 16 more | 8 hr |
| Apr 17, 6:25 PM CDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Clark | 2 hr |
Nearby
Mesoscale Discussions in Kansas, 2026Mesoscale Discussions in Oklahoma, 2026Mesoscale Discussions in Missouri, 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.