Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 9, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO

May 9, 1996Elbert County, Colorado

NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 9, 1996, 2:20 PM MDT for Elbert County, Colorado. It was in force for 25 min. 2 reports 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: May 9, 1996, 2:20 PM MDT (20:20 UTC)
Expired: May 9, 1996, 2:45 PM MDT
In force: 25 min
Issued by: NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
Area: Whole counties

County Elbert County, CO

The radar

The Denver radar (KFTG), 66 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:20 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
May 9, 2:55 PM MDT	Hail 1.75	Agate, CO
May 9, 2:55 PM MDT	Hail 1	Limon, 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

Fort Carson/Butt, CO (KFCS), launched 12:00Z, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 83 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 818 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 52 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 98 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 207 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KDEN 092019
SVRDEN
COC039-092045-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
220 PM MDT THU MAY 09 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 245 PM MDT FOR PEOPLE IN
THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES

IN EAST CENTRAL COLORADO
     NORTH CENTRAL ELBERT

AT 215 PM MDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR KIOWA...OR ABOUT 46 MILES NORTHEAST OF
COLORADO SPRINGS.

THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT ABOUT 15 MPH.  THE STORM IS OVER
MOSTLY OPEN COUNTRY AND HEADING TOWARDS AGATE.   

LARGE HAIL TO OVER AN INCH IN DIAMETER IS POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM.

IF SEVERE WEATHER APPROACHES YOUR AREA...GO INSIDE A STURDY
SHELTER AWAY FROM CREEK BEDS AND OTHER FLOOD-PRONE AREAS.
REMEMBER...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAN PRODUCE LARGE DAMAGING
HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS OVER 60 MPH...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY
HEAVY RAIN.

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

DANKERS
LAT...LON 3929 10405 3927 10440 3948 10443 3956 10404

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

Local storm report, May 9, 9:53 AM MDT, 4 hours 27 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
945 AM MDT THU MAY 09 1996

...STORM REPORTS FOR MAY 8-9TH...

TIME(MDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE       ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

2003            LOCHBUIE                 1" DIAMETER HAIL REPORTED BY
               WELD                      SPOTTER.

2006            LOCHBUIE                 2" DIAMETER HAIL REPORTED BY
               WELD                      SPOTTER.

2020            KEENESBURG               GUST TO 51 KTS AT MESONET SITE.
               WASHINGTON

2100            ROGGEN                   GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL REPORTED
               WELD                      15 SSE OF ROGGEN

2115            FORT MORGAN              GUST TO 55 KTS AT MESONET SITE.
               MORGAN

2210            BRUSH                    GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL REPORTED
               MORGAN                    JUST SOUTH OF BRUSH.

2309            HAXTUN                   WIND GUST TO 58 MPH REPORTED
               PHILLIPS                  BY SPOTTER.

2335            SEDGWICK                 1" DIAMETER HAIL REPORTED BY
                                         BY SPOTTER IN SOUTHEAST
                                         SEDGWICK COUNTY.

KLEYLA/LOUIS

Special weather statement, May 9, 11:52 AM MDT, 2 hours 28 minutes before

COZ030-032>050-100600-

SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
1150 AM MDT THU MAY 9 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:  COOL MOIST UPSLOPE CONDITIONS BLANKETING THE NORTHEAST
PLAINS OF COLORADO THIS AFTERNOON SHOULD PREVENT THUNDERSTORMS FROM
DEVELOPING THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.  HOWEVER OVER HIGHER TERRAIN
ALONG THE WYOMING BORDER NORTH OF FORT COLLINS AND OVER AND NEAR THE
FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS...A FEW LATE AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE
POSSIBLE.  THESE STORMS MAY PRODUCE BRIEF HEAVY RAIN AND SOME GUSTY
WINDS...BUT ARE NOT EXPECTED TO PRODUCE LARGE HAIL OR DAMAGING WrINDS.

THEREFORE...STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.

BAKER

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 8, 7:15 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Logan	45 min
May 8, 8:03 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Adams, Weld	42 min
May 8, 8:55 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Adams, Morgan, Weld	50 min
May 8, 10:15 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Morgan, Washington	45 min
May 8, 11:10 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Phillips, Sedgwick	50 min
May 9, 2:15 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Logan	45 min
May 9, 2:50 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Elbert, Lincoln	25 min
May 9, 3:16 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Elbert, Lincoln	14 min
May 9, 3:36 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Lincoln	24 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.