Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 46, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO

July 12, 1996Elbert County, Colorado

NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this tornado warning at Jul 12, 1996, 2:54 PM MDT for Elbert County, Colorado. It was in force for 36 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: Jul 12, 1996, 2:54 PM MDT (20:54 UTC)
Expired: Jul 12, 1996, 3:30 PM MDT
In force: 36 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 20:57 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, 8.9 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: 320 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -123 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 949 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 10 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 49 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 122055
TORDEN
COC039-122130-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
254 PM MDT FRI JUL 12 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 330 PM MDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES

IN EAST CENTRAL COLORADO
     NORTHWESTERN ELBERT

AT 251 PM MDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A 
THUNDERSTORM WITH A POSSIBLE TORNADO OVER EXTREME NORTHWESTERN 
ELBERT COUNTY...6 MILES EAST OF PARKER OR ABOUT 26 MILES SOUTHEAST 
OF DENVER.

THE STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 10 MILES PER HOUR.

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.

LAT...LON 3949 10431 3943 10464 3949 10465 3960 10463
          3958 10437

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado 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, Jul 12, 11:43 AM MDT, 3 hours 11 minutes before

COZ030-032>050-130600-

SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
1145 AM MDT FRI JUL 12 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:  A WEAK COLD FRONT HAS STALLED FROM NEAR DENVER TO
GOODLAND THIS MORNING.  MOISTURE HAS INCREASED ON BOTH SIDES OF THE
FRONT...WITH THE MOST MOISTURE ALONG AND SOUTH OF THE FRONT.  THE
COMBINATION OF INCREASED MOISTURE AND SLIGHT COOLING ALOFT HAS MADE
THE ATMOSPHERE MODERATELY UNSTABLE.  THE MOISTURE AXIS AND
CONVERGENCE ALONG THE FRONT...FROM NORTH OF DENVER TO LIMON...WILL
BE THE FOCUS FOR STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT BY LATE
AFTERNOON. THE ACTIVITY WILL SPREAD DURING THE EVENING DUE TO
OUTFLOWS FROM THE EARLY STORMS.

A RELATIVELY WARM AIR MASS WILL LIMIT THE POTENTIAL FOR LARGE HAIL...
BUT THERE IS STILL THE POTENTIAL FOR LARGE HAIL WITH THE STRONGER
STORMS.  THE WIND FIELD IS MODERATELY FAVORABLE FOR TORNADOES...
ESPECIALLY ON THE NORTHEAST SIDE OF THE FRONT.  HEAVY RAIN IS ALSO A
THREAT AS STORMS WILL NOT BE MOVING QUICKLY.

STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MAY CONTINUE THROUGH MUCH OF THE
NIGHT ON THE PLAINS DUE TO ABUNDANT MOISTURE AND FAVORABLE LOW LEVEL
WINDS.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS LIKELY AFTER 3 PM ALONG THE FRONT RANGE AND
THIS EVENING ON THE PLAINS.

GIMMESTAD

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 12, 12:41 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Douglas	19 min
Jul 12, 2:31 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert	14 min
Jul 12, 3:53 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Adams, Weld	52 min
Jul 12, 4:22 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Adams, Morgan, Weld	38 min
Jul 12, 5:07 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Morgan, Washington	38 min
Jul 12, 5:47 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Morgan, Washington	43 min
Jul 12, 5:57 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Larimer, Weld	48 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.