Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 259, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO

August 14, 1996Weld County, Colorado

NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 14, 1996, 6:15 PM MDT for Weld County, Colorado. It was in force for 30 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 14, 1996, 6:15 PM MDT (00:15 UTC)
Expired
Aug 14, 1996, 6:45 PM MDT
In force
30 min
Issued by
NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
Area
Whole counties

County Weld County, CO

The radar

The Cheyenne radar (KCYS), 75 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:14 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

Denver, CO (KDNR), launched 00:00Z, 0.3 hours before the alert went out and 125 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 1996-08-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 627 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 1996-08-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -21 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
627 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-75 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2385 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-21 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-2 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

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 14, 2:02 PM MDT, 4 hours 13 minutes before
COZ033-035-038-039-142045-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO
202 PM MDT WED AUG 14 1996

...THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING IN SOUTHCENTRAL LARIMER COUNTY...

AT 201 PM MDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
THUNDERSTORM 4 MILES NORTHEAST OF GLEN HAVEN...OR ABOUT 18 MILES WEST
OF FORT COLLINS.  THIS STORM WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20 MILES PER
HOUR.

PERSONS IN OR NEAR WESTERN FORT COLLINS...BELLVUE...BUCKHORN
MOUNTAIN...DRAKE...ESTES PARK...GLEN HAVEN...LOVELAND...LYONS AND
MASONVILLE SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING WEATHER AND MOVE
TO A PLACE OF SAFETY IF BAD WEATHER APPROACHES.

THIS STORM IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...SMALL HAIL
...BRIEF HEAVY RAIN...AND WIND GUSTS TO 40 MPH.

RJK
Special weather statement, Aug 14, 3:04 PM MDT, 3 hours 11 minutes before
COZ033-035-038-142140-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO
305 PM MDT WED AUG 14 1996

...THUNDERSTORMS MOVING INTO NORTHCENTRAL AND NORTHEAST LARIMER
COUNTY...

AT 303 PM MDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
THUNDERSTORM 3 MILES NORTH OF VIRGINIA DALE...OR ABOUT 32 MILES
NORTHWEST OF FORT COLLINS MOVING SOUTH-SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

PERSONS IN OR NEAR LIVERMORE...MISHOWAKA...POUDRE PARK...TEDS
PLACE...VIRGINIA DALE AND WELLINGTON SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR
THREATENING WEATHER AND MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY IF BAD WEATHER
APPROACHES.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS WERE PRODUCING SMALL HAIL...HEAVY RAIN...AND
WIND GUSTS AS HIGH AS 40 MPH.

RJK

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 14, 6:12 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOULincoln33 min
Aug 14, 6:34 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUElbert26 min
Aug 14, 6:43 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOULincoln47 min
Aug 15, 1:52 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUWeld53 min
Aug 15, 3:50 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUMorgan, Weld40 min
Aug 15, 4:41 PM MDTTornado WarningBOUAdams, Arapahoe34 min
Aug 15, 4:58 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUArapahoe, Elbert47 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.