Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO

May 22, 1996Phillips County, Colorado

NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this tornado warning at May 22, 1996, 6:57 PM MDT for Phillips County, Colorado. It was in force for 33 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: May 22, 1996, 6:57 PM MDT (00:57 UTC)
Expired: May 22, 1996, 7:30 PM MDT
In force: 33 min
Issued by: NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
Area: Whole counties

County Phillips County, CO

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 148 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:59 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 22, 7:15 PM MDT	Hail 0.75	Holyoke, 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, 1.0 hours before the alert went out and 109 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: 173 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -30 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 3436 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 63 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -21 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 36 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KDEN 230057
TORDEN
COC095-230130-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
657 PM MDT WED MAY 22 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A TORNADO
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 730 PM MDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING
COUNTIES

IN NORTHEASTERN COLORADO
     EASTERN PHILLIPS

INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS
     AMHERST AND PLEASANT VALLEY

AT 654 PM MDT WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A POSSIBLE TORNADO
4 MILES SOUTHWEST OF PLEASANT VALLEY ...OR ABOUT 88 MILES NORTH OF
BURLINGTON.

THE STORM WAS MOVING EAST SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE DURING A TORNADO IS IN A BASEMENT.  GET
UNDER A WORKBENCH OR OTHER PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE.  IF NO
BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF THE
BUILDING IN AN INTERIOR HALLWAY OR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET.  USE
BLANKETS OR PILLOWS TO COVER YOUR BODY AND ALWAYS STAY AWAY
FROM WINDOWS.

IF IN MOBILE HOMES OR VEHICLES...EVACUATE THEM AND GET INSIDE A
SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER.  IF NO SHELTER IS AVAILABLE...LIE FLAT IN
THE NEAREST DITCH OR OTHER LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH
YOUR HANDS.

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

KLEYLA

LAT...LON 4045 10203 4048 10229 4067 10231 4067 10209

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 22, 6:04 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Phillips	56 min
May 22, 6:29 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Phillips	31 min
May 22, 11:06 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Jefferson	39 min
May 22, 11:23 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Adams, Denver	52 min
May 22, 11:47 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Adams, Denver, Weld	43 min
May 23, 12:41 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Adams, Morgan, Weld	49 min
May 23, 1:44 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Morgan, Washington	31 min
May 23, 5:00 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Arapahoe, Elbert	45 min
May 23, 5:00 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Adams	45 min
May 23, 5:40 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Adams, Arapahoe, Washington	60 min
May 23, 5:40 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Elbert	60 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Colorado, 1996 Every tornado warning in 1996 Tornadoes 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.