Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Warnings in 1994

Tornado Warning 69, NWS Goodland, KS

August 4, 1994El Paso County, Colorado

NWS Goodland, KS issued this tornado warning at Aug 4, 1994, 7:30 PM MDT for El Paso County, Colorado. It was in force for 30 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 4, 1994, 7:30 PM MDT (01:30 UTC)
Expired
Aug 4, 1994, 8:00 PM MDT
In force
30 min
Issued by
NWS Goodland, KS
Area
Whole counties

County El Paso County, CO

The nearest sounding before it

Denver, CO (KDEN), launched 00:00Z, 1.5 hours before the alert went out and 160 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, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 1994-08-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 546 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, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 1994-08-05The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -15 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
546 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-30 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2310 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-15 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
78 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 050130
TORCOS
COC041-050200-
 
BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE COLORADO SPRINGS CO
730 PM MDT THU AUG 4 1994
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN COLORADO SPRINGS HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  800 PM MDT
FOR PERSONS IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN EAST CENTRAL COLORADO
 
   ...NORTHWESTERN EL PASO COUNTY
 
AT 725 PM MDT...WEATHER SERVICE RADAR AND LOCAL OBSERVATIONS INDICATED A
POSSIBLE TORNADO LOCATED ABOUT 2 MILES SOUTHEAST OF HODGEN ROAD AND
BLACK FOREST ROADS. THIS STORM IS MOVING TO THE SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.
 
THIS STORM WILL CONTINUE SOUTHEAST ACROSS SWAN AND BURGESS ROADS AND
IN BETWEEN MERIDIAN AND VOLLMER ROADS.
 
 
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
FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.
 
 
 
&

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.

NWS Goodland, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Aug 4, 2:27 PM MDT, 5 hours 3 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 4, 2:27 PM MDT, 5 hours 3 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
227 PM MDT (327 PM CDT) THU AUG 4 1994

RECOMMENDATIONS:  TOP...RCMD MENTION OF ISOLD TSTMS THIS EVE...
OTRW NO CHGS NEEDED.

DISCUSSION:  NGM MODEL OF CHOICE THIS FCST PD AS IT HANDLED PSN OF FNT
THE BEST AND HAS SHOWN MORE CONSISTENCY WITH THE MOVEMENT OF THIS
FEATURE DURG THE PAST SVRL HRS. THE COLD FNT IS MOVING THRU NE ATTM AND
CONTS TO TRIGGER ISOLD SHWRS WHILE SHWRS ARE DVLPG OVR THE COLO FNT
RANGE. ALTHOUGH RFC GRIDDED DATA INDCS NO UPR LVL SUPPORT FOR TRW THIS
AFTN AND EVE THE FACT THAT THERE IS SOME...ALBEIT WK...CNVTV ACTVTY
OCRG ATTM SUGGESTS THAT A TRW OR TWO IS PSBL THIS EVE.  A MENTION OF
TRW OVR NW KS WOULD ALSO BRING AREA IN LN WITH FCSTS FM OMA AND DEN.
ANY ACTVTY THAT DOES OCR SHOULD END QUICKLY WITH LOSS OF DAYTIME
HEATING.

CRNT TEMP FCSTS FOR TNGT LOOK PRETTY GD SO WOULD NOT MAKE ANY BIG CHGS
ATTM.  DEN AND TOP MAY WANT TO LWR TEMPS TO MID 50S FOR TNGT.  RDG TO
MOVE INTO WRN CWA AND WNDS TO GO LGT OVNGT FOR A TM AND THEREFORE KS
GROUP 1 AND COLO ZNS 90-92 SHOULD REACH THE MID 50S WITH GD RADIATIONAL
COOLING XPCD OVR THE RGN.

S WNDS TO THEN SPREAD OVR THE RGN ON FRI RTRNG WRM AND MOIST AIR. VORT
MAX IS PROGD TO MOVE THRU THE AREA BGNG LT AFTN.  NGM Q VECTORS SHO
AREA OF LFT TO BE CENTERED OVR EXTRM NW KS BY 0Z THUS CHC OF TRW IS
WARRANTED FOR THE RGN.

REST OF SECOND PD FCSTS LOOKS OK AND NO CHGS SUGGESTED.

GLD   56/85 1-   HLC  59/84 1-
CBK   57/85 1-   MCK  55/83 1-
TRB   57/86 --   5C0  54/83 1-

TURNER

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 4, 4:49 PM MDT, 2 hours 41 minutes before
KSZ001>005-013>017-027>029-041-042-NEZ079>081-050005-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT AND SHORT TERM FORECAST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
448 PM MDT (548 PM CDT) THU AUG 4 1994

...AN ISOLATED STRONG THUNDERSTORM HAS DEVELOPED OVER EASTERN RED
WILLOW COUNTY...

AT 545 PM CDT...GOODLAND DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A STRONG THUNDERSTORM
ABOUT 5 MILES EAST-SOUTHEAST OF MCCOOK.  MOVEMENT WAS TOWARD THE SOUTH
AT 20 MPH.

OVER THE NEXT HOUR...THE STRONG THUNDERSTORM IN RED WILLOW COUNTY WILL
MOVE SOUTH PASSING NEAR DANBURY AS IT APPROACHES THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA
BORDER.  HEAVY DOWNPOURS...STRONG GUSTY WINDS...SMALL HAIL AND DANGEROUS
LIGHTNING MAY ACCOMPANY THIS STORM.

OTHER WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS MAY ENTER OR FORM OVER HITCHCOCK
AND DUNDY COUNTIES OF NEBRASKA AS WELL AS THE NORTHERN MOST COUNTIES OF
NORTHWEST KANSAS.

AT SIGNS OF AN IMPENDING STORM...TOWERING THUNDERHEADS...DARKENING
SKIES...LIGHTNING AND INCREASING WINDS...MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY.
TUNE IN NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL RADIO OR TV STATION FOR
THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION.

VJN

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 4, 6:34 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDElbert56 min
Aug 4, 6:34 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDEl Paso56 min
Aug 4, 6:57 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDEl Paso33 min
Aug 4, 7:47 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDLincoln28 min
Aug 4, 8:26 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDLincoln64 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Colorado, 1994Every tornado warning in 1994Tornadoes in 1994

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.