Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO

May 23, 1996Arapahoe County, Elbert County, Colorado

NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this tornado warning at May 23, 1996, 5:00 PM MDT for Arapahoe County, Elbert County, Colorado. It was in force for 45 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 23, 1996, 5:00 PM MDT (23:00 UTC)
Expired: May 23, 1996, 5:45 PM MDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
Area: Whole counties

Counties Arapahoe County, CO, Elbert County, CO

The radar

The Denver radar (KFTG), 44 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:01 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

Fort Carson/Butt, CO (KFCS), launched 12:00Z, 11.0 hours before the alert went out and 96 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: 249 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -17 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 877 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 68 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 95 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 258 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 1.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KDEN 232301
TORDEN
COC039-001-005-232345-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
500 PM MDT THU MAY 23 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A TORNADO
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 545 PM MDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING
COUNTIES

IN EAST CENTRAL COLORADO  
     NORTH CENTRAL ELBERT

IN NORTHEASTERN COLORADO
     EXTREME SOUTHEASTERN ADAMS AND EASTERN ARAPAHOE

INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS
     AGATE...DEER TRAIL AND JOLLY RANCH

AT 458 PM MDT WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A THUNDERSTORM
WITH A POSSIBLE TORNADO 8 MILES SOUTHWEST OF DEER TRAIL...OR ABOUT 29
MILES NORTHWEST OF LIMON.

THE STORM WAS MOVING WAS MOVING NORTH-NORTHEAST AT 20 TO 25 MPH.

SMALL HAIL HAS BEEN REPORTED WITH THIS STORM. 

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.

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

BAKER
LAT...LON 3967 10371 3940 10407 3943 10427 3954 10432
          3969 10413 3986 10384

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, 6:57 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Phillips	33 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	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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.