Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 95, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO

August 15, 1996Adams County, Arapahoe County, Colorado

NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this tornado warning at Aug 15, 1996, 4:41 PM MDT for Adams County, Arapahoe County, Colorado. It was in force for 34 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: Aug 15, 1996, 4:41 PM MDT (22:41 UTC)
Expired: Aug 15, 1996, 5:15 PM MDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
Area: Whole counties

Counties Adams County, CO, Arapahoe County, CO

The radar

The Denver radar (KFTG), 18 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:41 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
Aug 15, 5:00 PM MDT	Tornado F0	Byers, 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 12:00Z, 10.7 hours before the alert went out and 95 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: 44 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -377 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2307 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 96 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 87 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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, Aug 15, 11:16 AM MDT, 5 hours 25 minutes before

COZ030-032>050-160600-

SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO
1115 AM MDT THU AUG 15 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 RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT WILL PERSIST OVER THE
WESTERN U.S. AND SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE WILL REMAIN ENTRENCHED OVER
THE GREAT PLAINS.  AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE IN NORTHWESTERLY FLOW
ALOFT ACROSS THE CENTRAL ROCKY MOUNTAINS WILL APPROACH THE FORECAST
AREA LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND  EVENING.  THE AIR MASS ACROSS THE
HIGH PLAINS OF COLORADO WILL REMAIN  MOIST AND RELATIVELY UNSTABLE.

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL FORM OVER THE EASTERN FOOTHILLS DURING THE
EARLY AFTERNOON AND SPREAD OVER THE EASTERN PLAINS DURING THE AFTERNOON
AND EVENING HOURS.  A FEW THUNDERSTORMS MAY BE SEVERE PRODUCING STRONG
GUSTY WINDS AND LARGE HAIL.  WIND SHEAR IS ADEQUATE FOR ISOLATED
SUPERCELL FORMATION MAINLY EAST OF THE FRONT RANGE URBAN CORRIDOR.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED BY MID AFTERNOON.

GARD...WSFO DENVER

Local storm report, Aug 15, 12:53 PM MDT, 3 hours 48 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
100 PM MDT THU AUG 15 1996

... STORM REPORT FOR WEDNESDAY AUGUST 14 1996...

TIME(MDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0510 PM    3 E HEREFORD              CO   0.75 INCH HAIL
08/14/96   WELD

GARD...WSFO DENVER

Special weather statement, Aug 15, 1:07 PM MDT, 3 hours 34 minutes before

COZ038-042-152000-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
107 PM MDT THU AUG 15 1996

...STRONG THUNDERSTORM NORTHEAST OF FORT COLLINS...

AT 104 PM MDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
A STRONG THUNDERSTORM 3 MILES SOUTHEAST OF CARR ...OR ABOUT 24 MILES
NORTHEAST OF FORT COLLINS.  THE STORM WAS MOVING TO THE SOUTHEAST AT
15 MPH.

ALL PEOPLE IN NORTHWEST WELD COUNTY COLORADO
INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS
     CARR...NUNN...PURCELL AND ROCKPORT
SHOULD BE ALERT FOR HAIL...STRONG GUSTY WINDS...FREQUENT DANGEROUS
LIGHTNING AND BRIEF HEAVY RAIN FROM THIS STORM UNTIL 200 PM MDT
THIS AFTERNOON.

INTENSE LIGHTNING IS REPORTED WITH THIS STORM.  IF OUTDOORS...
STAY AWAY FROM ISOLATED HIGH OBJECTS SUCH AS TREES.  MOVE
INDOORS IF POSSIBLE.  WHEN INDOORS...STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS AND
DOORS AND AVOID USING TELEPHONES UNLESS IT IS AN EMERGENCY.
TRY TO UNPLUG UNNECESSARY ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES BEFORE THE
THUNDERSTORM APPROACHES.

GARD...WSFO DENVER
LAT...LON 4056 10451 4076 10492 4100 10491 4099 10439

Special weather statement, Aug 15, 3:43 PM MDT, 58 minutes before

COZ042>044-152245-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
345 PM MDT THU AUG 15 1996

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS EAST OF GREELEY...

AT 339 PM MDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
A STRONG THUNDERSTORM 6 MILES SOUTHEAST OF BARNESVILLE ...OR ABOUT 17
MILES EAST OF GREELEY.  THE STORM WAS MOVING TO THE EAST AT
15 MPH.

ALL PEOPLE IN CENTRAL WELD AND EXTREME WESTERN MORGAN COUNTIES OF
COLORADO INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS
     BARNESVILLE...GALETON...GILL...GOODRICH...JACKSON RESERVOIR
     ...KERSEY...ORCHARD...RIVERSIDE RESERVOIR AND WIGGINS
SHOULD BE ALERT FOR HAIL...FREQUENT DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...STRONG GUSTY
WINDS AND BRIEF HEAVY RAIN FROM THIS STORM UNTIL 445 PM MDT THIS
AFTERNOON.

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR A LARGE PART OF NORTHEAST AND
EAST CENTRAL COLORADO UNTIL 800 PM MDT THIS EVENING.

GARD...WSFO DENVER

LAT...LON 4013 10403 4041 10465 4060 10455 4059 10395

Special weather statement, Aug 15, 4:05 PM MDT, 36 minutes before

COZ040>041-045-152300-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
405 PM MDT THU AUG 15 1996

...STRONG THUNDERSTORM EAST OF DENVER...

AT 402 PM MDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
A STRONG THUNDERSTORM 4 MILES NORTH OF ARAPAHOE PARK ...OR ABOUT 11
MILES EAST OF DENVER.  THE STORM WAS MOVING TO THE EAST AT 15 MPH.

ALL PEOPLE IN CENTRAL ADAMS...CENTRAL ARAPAHOE AND NORTHWESTERN
ELBERT COUNTIES OF COLORADO
INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS
     ARAPAHOE PARK...AURORA...BENNETT...COUNTRY GARDENS...
     MANILA VILLAGE...STRASBURG AND WATKINS
SHOULD BE ALERT FOR HAIL...STRONG GUSTY WINDS...BRIEF HEAVY RAIN...
AND FREQUENT DANGEROUS LIGHTNING FROM THIS ST"ORM UNTIL 500 PM MDT
THIS AFTERNOON.

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR MOST OF NORTHEAST AND EAST
CENTRAL COLORADO UNTIL 800 PM MDT THIS EVENING.

GARD...WSFO DENVER

LAT...LON 3940 10441 3963 10479 3980 10469 3981 10420

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 14, 6:12 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Lincoln	33 min
Aug 14, 6:15 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Weld	30 min
Aug 14, 6:34 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Elbert	26 min
Aug 14, 6:43 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Lincoln	47 min
Aug 15, 1:52 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Weld	53 min
Aug 15, 3:50 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Morgan, Weld	40 min
Aug 15, 4:58 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Arapahoe, Elbert	47 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.