Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 80, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO

July 31, 1996Weld County, Colorado

NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this tornado warning at Jul 31, 1996, 8:13 PM MDT for Weld County, Colorado. It was in force for 32 min. 5 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
Jul 31, 1996, 8:13 PM MDT (02:13 UTC)
Expired
Jul 31, 1996, 8:45 PM MDT
In force
32 min
Issued by
NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
Area
Whole counties

County Weld County, CO

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
Jul 31, 8:20 PM MDTHail 1Roggen, CO
Jul 31, 8:20 PM MDTThunderstorm Wind 70Roggen, CO
Jul 31, 8:21 PM MDTTornado F0Roggen, CO
Jul 31, 8:40 PM MDTTornado F0Keenesburg, CO
Jul 31, 8:52 PM MDTHail 1.75Roggen, 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, 2.2 hours before the alert went out and 125 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 1996-08-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1235 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 1996-08-01The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 111 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
1235 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-38 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2359 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
111 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
264 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
10.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KDEN 010216
TORDEN
COC123-010245-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
813 PM MDT WED JUL 31 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A TORNADO
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 845 PM MDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING
COUNTIES

IN NORTHEASTERN COLORADO
     SOUTHEASTERN WELD

INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS
     PROSPECT VALLEY...RIVERSIDE RESERVOIR AND ROGGEN

AT 813 PM MDT WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
THUNDERSTORM WITH A POSSIBLE TORNADO NEAR HARDIN...OR 
ABOUT 15 MILES EAST OF GREELEY.

AT 806 PM...A TORNADO WAS REPORTED AT GILL...ABOUT 10 MILES NORTHEAST 
OF GREELEY.  THIS TORNADO WAS MOVING SOUTH/SOUTHEAST AT 30 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.

BARJENBRUCH

&

LAT...LON 4003 10415 4005 10451 4042 10448 4036 10423

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 31, 3:20 PM MDT, 4 hours 53 minutes before
COZ046-047-312130-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
318 PM MDT WED JUL 31 1996

...LARGE HAIL IN HUGO...

AT 315PM HAIL TO JUST UNDER GOLFBALL HAIL WAS REPORTED IN HUGO.
A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT IN EASTERN LINCOLN
COUNTY INCLUDING HUGO UNTIL 330 PM.  THE STORM WAS LOCATED JUST
EAST OF HUGO AND SLOWLY DRIFTING SOUTH.  RESIDENTS OF THE AREA SHOULD
TAKE COVER FROM THIS STORM.

RTG

&&
Special weather statement, Jul 31, 4:57 PM MDT, 3 hours 16 minutes before
COZ038>050-310400-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
455 PM MDT WED JUL 31 1996

...TORNADO WATCH IN EFFECT FOR ALMOST ALL OF EASTERN COLORADO
UNTIIL 9 PM MDT...

THE WATCH COVERS AREAS EAST OF INTERSTATE 25...INCLUDING THE
EASTERN PORTIONS OF THE DENVER METRO AREA...GREELEY...FORT
MORGAN...STERLING...AKRON...JULESBURG...LIMON...AND CASTLE ROCK.

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUED ACROSS NORTHEAST COLORADO EARLY
THIS EVENING.  SEVERE STORMS WITH LARGE HAIL WERE OCCURRING IN LINCOLN
COUNTY.  THESE SEVERE STORMS MAY BECOME MORE WIDESPREAD AS THE EVENING
PROGRESSES.

A TORNADO WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS AND TORNADOES. d IF A TORNADO IS SIGHTED OR A WARNING IS
ISSUED...TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY.  GO TO YOUR BASEMENT AND GET UNDER A
STURDY PIECE OF FURNITURE.

BARJENBRUCH

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 31, 6:39 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUWeld4 hr
Jul 31, 6:39 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUWeld51 min
Jul 31, 6:49 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUElbert, Lincoln41 min
Jul 31, 7:28 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUWeld47 min
Jul 31, 7:45 PM MDTTornado WarningBOUWeld30 min
Jul 31, 7:51 PM MDTTornado WarningBOUPhillips24 min
Jul 31, 7:57 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUAdams, Morgan48 min
Jul 31, 8:45 PM MDTTornado WarningBOUAdams, Weld30 min
Jul 31, 8:50 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUMorgan, Washington55 min
Jul 31, 9:16 PM MDTTornado WarningBOUAdams, Arapahoe44 min
Jul 31, 9:58 PM MDTTornado WarningBOUArapahoe, Elbert47 min
Jul 31, 10:18 PM MDTTornado WarningBOULincoln42 min
Jul 31, 10:25 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUAdams, Weld35 min
Jul 31, 10:54 PM MDTTornado WarningBOULincoln51 min
Jul 31, 11:44 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOULincoln31 min
Aug 1, 2:22 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOULogan9 hr
Aug 1, 2:56 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOULogan, Phillips49 min
Aug 1, 3:47 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUWashington28 min
Aug 1, 4:13 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUWashington47 min
Aug 1, 4:22 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOULincoln53 min
Aug 1, 4:39 PM MDTTornado WarningBOUWashington21 min
Aug 1, 5:07 PM MDTTornado WarningBOUWashington38 min
Aug 1, 5:26 PM MDTTornado WarningBOUWashington34 min

Nearby

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