Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 239, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO

August 3, 1996Elbert County, Lincoln County, Colorado

NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 3, 1996, 3:21 PM MDT for Elbert County, Lincoln County, Colorado. It was in force for 39 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: Aug 3, 1996, 3:21 PM MDT (21:21 UTC)
Expired: Aug 3, 1996, 4:00 PM MDT
In force: 39 min
Issued by: NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
Area: Whole counties

Counties Elbert County, CO, Lincoln County, CO

The radar

The Pueblo radar (KPUX), 81 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:20 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 was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Aug 3, 3:30 PM MDT	Hail 0.88	Genoa, 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.

The nearest sounding before it

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 12:00Z, 9.4 hours before the alert went out and 352 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: 376 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -256 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1953 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 6 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 287 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 183 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KDEN 032121
SVRDEN
COC039-073-032200-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
321 PM MDT SAT AUG 3 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 400 PM MDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE
FOLLOWING COUNTIES...

IN EAST CENTRAL COLORADO
     NORTHEASTERN ELBERT AND NORTHWESTERN LINCOLN

INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS
     LIMON

AT 317 PM MDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 9 MILES NORTHWEST OF LIMON.

THE STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 25 MILES PER HOUR.

LARGE HAIL IS POSSIBLE WITH THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM. IF YOU ARE IN 
THE PATH OF THE STORM...PUT YOUR CAR IN A GARAGE AND MOVE TO A 
SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER.

REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. THEY
WILL RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST
OFFICE IN DENVER.

GIMMESTAD

LAT...LON 3952 10345 3926 10351 3926 10386 3932 10387
          3945 10379

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm 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, Aug 3, 11:38 AM MDT, 3 hours 43 minutes before

COZ030-032>050-040600-

SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
1140 AM MDT SAT AUG 3 1996

THIS OUTLOOK PERTAINS TO THE FOLLOWING COLORADO COUNTIES

ADAMS     ARAPAHOE     BOULDER   CLEAR CREEK   DENVER       DOUGLAS
ELBERT    GILPIN       GRAND     JACKSON       JEFFERSON    LARIMER
LINCOLN   LOGAN        MORGAN    PARK          PHILLIPS     SEDGWICK
SUMMIT    WASHINGTON   WELD

SYNOPSIS:  THE ATMOSPHERE HAS BECOME A BIT MORE STABLE OVER EASTERN
COLORADO SINCE YESTERDAY.  THERE HAS BEEN SOME WARMING AT MOUNTAINTOP
LEVEL WHILE TEMPERATURES ARE COOLER THIS MORNING DUE TO CLOUD COVER.
THE EDGE OF THE DEEP LOW LEVEL MOISTURE HAS ALSO MOVED FURTHER EAST...
FROM THE EASTERN EDGE OF LINCOLN AND WASHINGTON COUNTIES THROUGH HAXTUN.

THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP OVER THE MOUNTAINS BY MIDAFTERNOON AND DRIFT
EAST.  THESE WILL MOST LIKELY WEAKEN AS THEY MOVE OVER THE FRONT RANGE
CITIES...BUT COULD PRODUCE WIND GUSTS TO 50 MPH AND SMALL HAIL.
DAMAGING WIND GUSTS FROM THESE STORMS IS THE MAIN WEATHER THREAT TODAY.
IN THE DEEP MOISTURE ALONG THE EASTERN BORDER THERE IS A SMALL THREAT
FOR SEVERE STORMS THIS EVENING...BUT THE LIKELY AREAS FOR DEVELOPMENT
ARE NORTH AND EAST OF COLORADO.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION SHOULD NOT BE NEEDED TODAY.

GIMMESTAD

The office that day

Everything else NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 2, 8:01 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Elbert	29 min
Aug 2, 10:23 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Weld	37 min
Aug 3, 4:03 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Lincoln	42 min
Aug 3, 4:19 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Washington	41 min
Aug 3, 4:57 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Washington	33 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Colorado, 1996 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1996

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.