Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Warnings in 1991

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Goodland, KS

May 2, 1991Elbert County, Colorado

NWS Goodland, KS issued this tornado warning at May 2, 1991, 2:54 PM MDT for Elbert County, Colorado. It was in force for 66 min. 2 reports 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 2, 1991, 2:54 PM MDT (20:54 UTC)
Expired: May 2, 1991, 4:00 PM MDT
In force: 66 min
Issued by: NWS Goodland, KS
Area: Whole counties

County Elbert County, CO

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 2, 3:30 PM MDT	Tornado F0	Elbert, CO
May 2, 3:45 PM MDT	Tornado F1	Elbert, 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

Fort Carson/Butt, CO (KFCS), launched 12:00Z, 8.9 hours before the alert went out and 83 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: 2257 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 65 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 91 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 205 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 KCOS 022054
TORCOS
COC039-022200-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED/EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED 
TORNADO WARNING 
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLORADO SPRINGS CO
254 PM MDT THU MAY 2 1991

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING 
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 400 PM MDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTY

   IN THE EAST CENTRAL PART OF COLORADO
      EASTERN ELBERT

AT 245 PM MDT...RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO NORTH OF RUSH
COLORADO OR 25 MILES EAST OF COLORADO SPRINGS CO MOVING TO THE
NORTHEAST AT 50 MILES AN HOUR.

IF SEVERE WEATHER APPROACHES YOUR AREA..GO TO A STURDY SHELTER AWAY
FROM CREEK BEDS AND OTHER LOW AREAS PRONE TO FLOODING.  REMEMBER...
A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAN PRODUCE LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS OF OVER
60 MPH...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND HEAVY RAINS THAT CAN QUICKLY FLOOD
LOW LYING AREAS.

IN HOMES GO TO THE BASEMENT OR INTO A CLOSET OR BATHROOM.  IN SCHOOLS
...HIGH RISES AND HOSPITALS GO TO AN INTERIOR HALLWAY ON THEb LOWEST
FLOOR.  IF IN MOBILE HOMES OR VEHICLES...EVACUATE TO SAFE SHELTER.

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 2, 2:13 PM MDT, 41 minutes before

KSZ001-002-022115-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
213 PM MDT (313 PM CDT) THU MAY 2 1991

...TORNADO WATCH IN EFFECT UNTIL 8PM MDT FOR NORTHWEST AND WESTCENTRAL
KANSAS WEST OF A ATWOOD TO SCOTT CITY LINE...

AT 210PM MDT NO SHOWERS OR THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WAS INDICATED BY
RADAR OVER NORTHWEST OR WESTCENTRAL KANSAS.

HOWEVER...THERE IS A RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER OVER WESTERN KANSAS THIS
AFTERNOON AND EVENING.

PEOPLE ACROSS WESTERN KANSAS SHOULD KEEP ALERT TO DEVELOPING WEATHER
CONDTIONS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING,  STAY TUNED TO WEATHER RADIO OR
LOCAL RADIO AND TV FOR THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION.

FREIBURGER

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 2, 3:17 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	GLD	Lincoln	58 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Colorado, 1991 Every tornado warning in 1991 Tornadoes in 1991

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.