Alert archive / Kansas / Tornado Watches in 2026

Tornado Watch 227

May 18, 202630 counties in Kansas; 25 counties in Missouri

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 18, 2026, 6:14 PM CDT for 30 counties in Kansas; 25 counties in Missouri. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: May 18, 2026, 6:14 PM CDT (23:14 UTC)
Expired: May 19, 2026, 1:00 AM CDT
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 2 in
Strongest gust expected: 65 kt

All 55 counties

Anderson County, KS, Butler County, KS, Chase County, KS, Chautauqua County, KS, Coffey County, KS, Cowley County, KS, Douglas County, KS, Elk County, KS, Franklin County, KS, Greenwood County, KS, Harper County, KS, Harvey County, KS, Jefferson County, KS, Johnson County, KS, Kingman County, KS, Leavenworth County, KS, Linn County, KS, Lyon County, KS, Marion County, KS, Miami County, KS, Montgomery County, KS, Osage County, KS, Reno County, KS, Sedgwick County, KS, Shawnee County, KS, Sumner County, KS, Wabaunsee County, KS, Wilson County, KS, Woodson County, KS, Wyandotte County, KS, Adair County, MO, Bates County, MO, Caldwell County, MO, Carroll County, MO, Cass County, MO, Chariton County, MO, Clay County, MO, Clinton County, MO, Cooper County, MO, Henry County, MO, Howard County, MO, Jackson County, MO, Johnson County, MO, Lafayette County, MO, Linn County, MO, Livingston County, MO, Macon County, MO, Pettis County, MO, Platte County, MO, Putnam County, MO, Randolph County, MO, Ray County, MO, Saline County, MO, Schuyler County, MO, Sullivan County, MO

The radar

The Topeka radar (KTWX), 76 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:16 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: 40%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 60%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more: 60%
Ten or more severe hail reports: 50%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more: 40%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 90%

Warnings issued inside it

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 18, 6:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	TOP	Dickinson, Geary, Morris, Pottawatomie, Riley, Wabaunsee	24 min
May 18, 6:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	ICT	Harvey, Kingman, McPherson, Marion, Reno, Rice and 1 more	50 min
May 18, 6:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	TOP	Geary, Jackson, Nemaha, Pottawatomie, Riley, Shawnee and 1 more	48 min
May 18, 6:52 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Destructive damage threat	TOP	Jackson, Pottawatomie, Shawnee, Wabaunsee	23 min
May 18, 6:59 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Dickinson, Geary, Morris, Wabaunsee	46 min
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, 7:27 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	TOP	Brown, Jackson, Jefferson, Nemaha, Shawnee	33 min
May 18, 7:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Geary, Jackson, Pottawatomie, Riley, Shawnee, Wabaunsee	36 min
May 18, 7:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Geary, Lyon, Morris, Wabaunsee	44 min
May 18, 7:41 PM CDT	Flash Flood Warning	TOP	Geary, Riley, Wabaunsee	3 hr
May 18, 7:47 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Lyon, Morris, Wabaunsee	28 min
May 18, 7:53 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Coffey, Jefferson, Lyon, Osage, Shawnee, Wabaunsee	52 min
May 18, 7:56 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Butler, Chase, Greenwood, Harvey, Marion	49 min
May 18, 7:56 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Lyon, Wabaunsee	19 min
May 18, 8:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Butler, Kingman, Reno, Sedgwick	45 min
May 18, 8:00 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	TOP	Coffey, Franklin, Lyon, Osage, Wabaunsee	45 min
May 18, 8:04 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	EAX	Andrew, Buchanan, Clinton, DeKalb	41 min
May 18, 8:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	TOP	Osage, Shawnee, Wabaunsee	22 min
May 18, 8:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Buchanan, Platte	45 min
May 18, 8:28 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	TOP	Douglas, Franklin, Jefferson, Osage, Shawnee	47 min
May 18, 8:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Butler, Chase, Greenwood, Marion	39 min
May 18, 8:36 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Lyon	39 min
May 18, 8:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	ICT	Harvey, Kingman, Reno, Sedgwick, Sumner	64 min
May 18, 8:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Atchison, Doniphan, Leavenworth	63 min
May 18, 8:47 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	EAX	Johnson, Leavenworth, Wyandotte	58 min
May 18, 9:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	ICT	Butler, Harvey, Sedgwick	40 min
May 18, 9:06 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Daviess, Gentry, Grundy, Harrison, Mercer, Sullivan and 1 more	39 min
May 18, 9:10 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Butler, Chase, Greenwood	50 min
May 18, 9:11 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Franklin	22 min
May 18, 9:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Coffey, Lyon	47 min
May 18, 9:13 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	EAX	Buchanan, Caldwell, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Jackson and 2 more	62 min
May 18, 9:15 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	EAX	Miami	75 min
May 18, 9:35 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Butler, Sedgwick	25 min
May 18, 9:37 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	EAX	Caldwell, Carroll, Daviess, Grundy, Lafayette, Livingston and 1 more	53 min
May 18, 9:41 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Harper, Kingman, Sedgwick, Sumner	64 min
May 18, 9:42 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Cass, Jackson, Johnson	63 min
May 18, 9:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Grundy, Mercer, Putnam, Sullivan	33 min
May 18, 9:45 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	EAX	Cass, Johnson	30 min
May 18, 9:50 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	EAX	Carroll, Clay, Jackson, Ray	40 min
May 18, 9:58 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Butler, Chase, Greenwood	47 min
May 18, 10:03 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Linn, Miami	42 min
May 18, 10:08 PM CDT	Tornado Warning	EAX	Caldwell, Carroll, Livingston, Ray	37 min
May 18, 10:18 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Coffey, Lyon	42 min
May 18, 10:21 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Carroll, Chariton, Grundy, Johnson, Lafayette, Linn and 4 more	39 min
May 18, 10:43 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning Considerable damage threat	ICT	Sumner	47 min
May 18, 10:57 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Anderson, Coffey	33 min
May 18, 11:05 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Butler, Cowley	27 min
May 18, 11:07 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Anderson, Coffey	23 min
May 18, 11:17 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	ICT	Cowley, Sumner	43 min
May 18, 11:25 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TOP	Anderson, Franklin	20 min
May 18, 11:31 PM CDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	EAX	Linn, Miami	44 min
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

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 12:00Z, 11.2 hours before the alert went out and 71 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: 963 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 56 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 71 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 271 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 4.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 17, 7:40 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Edwards, Ford, Hodgeman, Kiowa, Ness, Pawnee and 3 more	3 hr
May 17, 8:07 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Doniphan	5 hr
May 18, 11:59 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Brown, Chase, Clay, Cloud, Dickinson, Ellsworth and 20 more	2 hr
May 18, 12:50 PM CDT	Tornado Watch PDS	SPC	Barton, Brown, Clay, Cloud, Dickinson, Ellsworth and 18 more	7 hr
May 18, 2:07 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Clay, Cloud, Lincoln, Marshall, Ottawa, Washington	83 min
May 18, 2:31 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Barber, Clark, Comanche, Edwards, Kiowa, Pratt and 1 more	119 min
May 18, 3:00 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Barber, Clark, Comanche, Edwards, Ford, Kiowa and 3 more	6 hr
May 18, 3:49 PM CDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Atchison, Doniphan	6 hr
May 18, 5:45 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Atchison, Brown, Doniphan, Jackson, Marshall, Nemaha and 2 more	2 hr
May 17, 9:30 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Andrew, Atchison, Gentry, Harrison, Holt, Mercer and 2 more	90 min
May 18, 6:51 AM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Audrain, Callaway, Cole, Franklin, Gasconade, Jefferson and 11 more	84 min
May 18, 3:29 PM CDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Andrew, Atchison, Buchanan, Clinton, Daviess, DeKalb and 6 more	2 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Kansas, 2026 Tornado Watches in Missouri, 2026 Every tornado watch 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.