Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 241, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO

August 3, 1996Washington County, Colorado

NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 3, 1996, 4:19 PM MDT for Washington County, Colorado. It was in force for 41 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 3, 1996, 4:19 PM MDT (22:19 UTC)
Expired
Aug 3, 1996, 5:00 PM MDT
In force
41 min
Issued by
NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
Area
Whole counties

County Washington County, CO

The radar

The Denver radar (KFTG), 117 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:22 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.

The nearest sounding before it

N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE (KLBF), launched 12:00Z, 10.3 hours before the alert went out and 255 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, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 12:00Z on 1996-08-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 376 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, N. Platte/Lee Bi, NE at 12:00Z on 1996-08-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 287 square meters per square second.1939587897117136156175194Sfc1 km3 km6 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
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

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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, 4 hours 41 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.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 2, 8:01 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUElbert29 min
Aug 2, 10:23 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUWeld37 min
Aug 3, 3:21 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUElbert, Lincoln39 min
Aug 3, 4:03 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOULincoln42 min
Aug 3, 4:57 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUWashington33 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Colorado, 1996Every 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.