Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 21, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO

May 30, 1996Elbert County, Colorado

NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this tornado warning at May 30, 1996, 7:52 PM MDT for Elbert County, Colorado. It was in force for 38 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: May 30, 1996, 7:52 PM MDT (01:52 UTC)
Expired: May 30, 1996, 8:30 PM MDT
In force: 38 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 01:54 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, 1.9 hours before the alert went out and 101 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: 930 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -153 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2007 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 65 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 179 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 1.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KDEN 310154
TORDEN
COC039-121-310230-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
752 PM MDT THU MAY 30 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A TORNADO
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 830 PM MDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING
COUNTIES

IN EAST CENTRAL COLORADO
     NORTHEASTERN ELBERT

IN NORTHEASTERN COLORADO
     EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN WASHINGTON

AT 752 PM MDT WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A THUNDERSTORM
WITH A POSSIBLE TORNADO 18 MILES NORTH OF LIMON.

THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 15 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.

LESZCYNSKI

LAT...LON 3960 10358 3946 10385 3953 10389 3966 10365

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 30, 6:15 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Washington	30 min
May 30, 6:26 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Lincoln	64 min
May 30, 6:45 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Washington	45 min
May 30, 7:15 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Lincoln	30 min
May 30, 7:31 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Washington	29 min
May 30, 7:46 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Lincoln	29 min
May 30, 7:52 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Washington	38 min
May 30, 8:15 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Lincoln	30 min
May 30, 8:37 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Elbert, Lincoln	68 min
May 30, 8:50 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Lincoln	40 min
May 30, 9:12 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Washington	48 min
May 30, 9:24 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Washington	36 min
May 30, 9:49 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Lincoln	41 min
May 31, 2:17 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Lincoln	43 min
May 31, 5:39 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Morgan, Washington	66 min
May 31, 5:45 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Morgan, Weld	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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.