Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Warnings in 1989

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Pueblo, CO

May 21, 1989Kiowa County, Colorado

NWS Pueblo, CO issued this tornado warning at May 21, 1989, 6:23 PM MDT for Kiowa County, Colorado. It was in force for 52 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: May 21, 1989, 6:23 PM MDT (00:23 UTC)
Expired: May 21, 1989, 7:15 PM MDT
In force: 52 min
Issued by: NWS Pueblo, CO
Area: Whole counties

County Kiowa County, CO

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 21, 7:15 PM MDT	Tornado F1	Kiowa, CO

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in. Storm Data before 1996 records only tornadoes, thunderstorm wind and hail.

The nearest sounding before it

Denver, CO (KDEN), launched 00:00Z, 0.4 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.

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: 2793 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 35 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 228 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KPUB 220023
TORPUB
COC061-220115-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
TORNADO WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
623 PM MDT SUN MAY 21 1989

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 715 PM MDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY

   IN THE SOUTHEAST PART OF COLORADO
      CENTRAL EAST KIOWA

THIS WARNING INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING TOWNS AND CITIES...
EADS...BRANDON...CHIVINGTON...SHERIDAN LAKE AND TOWNER.

AT 6 PM GOLFBALL AND BASEBALL SIZE HAIL FELL IN EADS AND A TORNADO
TOUCHED DOWN 8 TO 10 MILES NORTH OF EADS. THE STORM WAS MOVING
SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE IS IN
A BASEMENT.  GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.
IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...FIND SHELTER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM
SUCH AS A CLOSET ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.  USE BLANKETS...PILLOWS...
OR CUSHIONS TO COVER YOUR BODY.  AVOID WINDOWS.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE.  OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES...
T1AKE COVER IN A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.

 TESAR

What forecasters said that day

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

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 21, 4:22 PM MDT, 2 hours 1 minute before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLORADO SPRINGS CO
420 PM MDT SUN MAY 21 1989

AT 420 PM MDT LIMON RADAR INDICATED A LARGE THUNDERSTORM EAST OF
THE TOWN OF HUGO IN LINCOLN COUNTY COLORADO ABOUT 25 MILES SOUTH
EAST OF LIMON COLORADO MOVING TO THE EAST AT ABOUT 20 MPH.

THIS STORM COULD PRODUCE LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN...HAIL AND STRONG
GUSTY WIND.

PERSONS SHOULD BE ALERT TO RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS
AND BE PREPARED TO MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY IF THREATENING
WEATHER APPROACHES.

STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR LOCAL RADIO AND TV STATIONS
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION REGARDING UPDATES ON LOCAL WEATHER
CONDITIONS.
HUBER

The office that day

Everything else NWS Pueblo, CO issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 21, 6:02 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	Kiowa	58 min
May 21, 6:47 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	Prowers	58 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Colorado, 1989 Every tornado warning in 1989 Tornadoes in 1989

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.