Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 96, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO

August 22, 1996Arapahoe County, Jefferson County, Colorado

NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this tornado warning at Aug 22, 1996, 3:44 PM MDT for Arapahoe County, Jefferson County, Colorado. It was in force for 31 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: Aug 22, 1996, 3:44 PM MDT (21:44 UTC)
Expired: Aug 22, 1996, 4:15 PM MDT
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
Area: Whole counties

Counties Arapahoe County, CO, Jefferson County, CO

The radar

The Denver radar (KFTG), 28 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:45 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, 9.7 hours before the alert went out and 105 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1368 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -44 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -20 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 222146
TORDEN
COC005-059-222215-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
344 PM MDT THU AUG 22 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL 415 PM MDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES

IN NORTHEAST COLORADO
     EXTREME EAST CENTRAL JEFFERSON
     EXTREME WESTERN ARAPAHOE

INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS
     EXTREME WEST CENTRAL LITTLETON AND CHATFIELD RESERVOIR

AT 339 PM MDT THE PUBLIC REPORTED A FUNNEL CLOUD NEAR THE 
INTERSECTION OF KIPLING AND C470.  THIS LOCATION IS ABOUT 12 MOILES 
SOUTHWEST OF DENVER.  DOPPLER RADAR SHOWED A DEVELOPING THUNDERSTORM 
IN THIS LOCATION.  


THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTH 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 3960 10493 3953 10509 3954 10517 3965 10511

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 22, 11:09 AM MDT, 4 hours 35 minutes before

COZ030-032>050-230600-

SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
1110 AM MDT THU AUG 22 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:  COOLER MORE STABLE AIR IS IN PLACE OVER NORTHEAST
COLORADO TODAY...WITH THE MOST UNSTABLE AIR OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND
FOOTHILLS.  SURFACE WINDS WILL SLOWLY BE TURNING FROM NORTHEAST TO
SOUTHEAST BY THIS EVENING.  A VERY MOIST FETCH OF AIR EXTENDS ACROSS
SOUTHWEST COLORADO TO NORTHEAST COLORADO.

EXPECT SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO BECOME WIDESPREAD OVER THE
MOUNTAINS AND FOOTHILLS THIS AFTERNOON.  SCATTERED SHOWERS WILL
DEVELOP FROM THE URBAN CORRIDOR EASTWARD THIS AFTERNOON INTO
EVENING.  CLOSER TO THE FOOTHILLS SOME THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP
AFTER 2PM...BUT THE THREAT OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE MUCH LOWER IN
EXTREME NORTHEAST COLORADO.  THUNDERSTORMS  TODAY WILL BE VERY SLOW
MOVING...AND WITH THE MOIST AIRMASS SOME LOCALLYP HEAVY RAIN WILL BE
POSSIBLE.  THUNDERSTORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BECOME SEVERE...AND
WE DO NOT EXPECT TO ACTIVATE SPOTTERS...BUT MAY NEED SOME RAINFALL
REPORTS.

RTG

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.