Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 246, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO

August 6, 1996Adams County, Arapahoe County, Colorado

NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 6, 1996, 9:17 PM MDT for Adams County, Arapahoe County, Colorado. It was in force for 28 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 6, 1996, 9:17 PM MDT (03:17 UTC)
Expired
Aug 6, 1996, 9:45 PM MDT
In force
28 min
Issued by
NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
Area
Whole counties

Counties Adams County, CO, Arapahoe County, CO

The radar

The Denver radar (KFTG), 18 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:18 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Aug 6, 9:35 PM MDTHail 1.75Byers, 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

Denver, CO (KDNR), launched 00:00Z, 3.3 hours before the alert went out and 95 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 1996-08-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 508 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 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 1996-08-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 27 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
508 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-58 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3514 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
27 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
136 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.1

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 6, 7:12 PM MDT, 2 hours 5 minutes before
COZ035-038>-070500-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
710 PM MDT TUE AUG 6 1996

...THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO REDEVELOP OVER LARIMER COUNTY...

LATEST DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO REDEVELOP
OVER LARIMER COUNTY...THEN HAVE PUSHED OUT INTO NORTHWEST WELD
COUNTY. THIS PATTERN HAS BEEN PRESENT DURING THE PAST HOUR AND WILL
CONTINUE DURING THE NEXT SEVERAL HOURS.

RADAR PRECIPATION ESTIMATES BETWEErN .50 AND .75 INCHES OF RAIN HAVE
ALREADY FALLEN OVER EXTREME NORTHEASTERN LARIMER COUNTY. ADDITIONAL
RAINFALL WILL CAUSE SOME LOCALIZED SMALL STREAM FLOODING OVER THIS
AREA.

THESE STORMS SHOULD DIMINISH LATER THIS EVENING.

ENTREKIN
Special weather statement, Aug 6, 7:44 PM MDT, 1 hour 33 minutes before
COZ035-038-043-070500-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
740 PM MDT TUE AUG 6 1996

...THUNDERSTORM OVER EXTREME WEST CENTRAL WELD COUNTY...

LATEST DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A HEFTY THUNDERSTORM OVER WEST
CENTRAL WELD COUNTY IN THE VICINITY OF WINDSOR. BRIEF HEAVY RAIN AND
HAIL ARE POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM.

A SPOTTER REPORTED 1/2 INCH HAIL WITH SOME ACCUMULATION ON THE
ROADWAY JUST WEST OF WINDSOR AT 735 PM. THIS STORM IS MOVING RAPIDLY
TO THE NORTHEAST AT ABOUT 30 MPH.

ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUE TO DEVELOP OVER EASTERN LARIMER
COUNTY AND WILL PUSH INTO WELD COUNTY THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE
EVENING. THESE STORMS WILL DIMINISH TOWARDS MIDNIGHTb.

ENTREKIN

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 6, 8:20 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUArapahoe, Elbert30 min
Aug 6, 8:50 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUArapahoe, Elbert30 min
Aug 6, 10:13 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUElbert32 min
Aug 6, 10:35 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUElbert, Lincoln30 min
Aug 6, 10:45 PM MDTTornado WarningBOULincoln30 min
Aug 7, 2:40 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningBOUJefferson116 min
Aug 7, 3:29 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUDouglas31 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.