Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Warnings in 1996
Tornado Warning 41, NWS Goodland, KS
NWS Goodland, KS issued this tornado warning at Aug 1, 1996, 5:41 PM MDT for Kit Carson County, Colorado. It was in force for 59 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 1, 1996, 5:41 PM MDT (23:41 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 1, 1996, 6:40 PM MDT
- In force
- 59 min
- Issued by
- NWS Goodland, KS
- Area
- Whole counties
County Kit Carson County, CO
The radar
The Goodland radar (KGLD), 78 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:40 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 1, 6:40 PM MDT | Hail 0.75 | Vona, 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, 11.7 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 292 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -247 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2092 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 36 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 72 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 103 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KGLD 012341 TORGLD COC063-020040- BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 541 PM MDT THU AUG 1 1996 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GOODLAND KS HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 640 PM MDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN EAST CENTRAL COLORADO ...WESTERN KIT CARSON COUNTY AT 540 PM MDT...A POSSIBLE TORNADO WAS INDICATED BY GOODLAND DOPPLER RADAR 36 MILES NORTHWEST OF BURLINGTON OR 17 MILES NORTH OF SEIBERT MOVING SOUTH AT 31 MPH. AT PRESENT MOVEMENT THE TORNADO WILL BE AROUND.... SEIBERT BY 610 PM MDT THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING TORNADOES. GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR! TURNER
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.
NWS Goodland, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Aug 1, 2:00 PM MDT, 3 hours 41 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 1, 2:00 PM MDT, 3 hours 41 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 200 PM MDT (300 PM CDT) THU AUG 1 1996 SHORT TERM: MDLS ARE GIVING LTE 20 POPS ALL LOCALES... BUT WITH DECENT SFC MOISTURE AXIS INVOF OF CWA...WEAK MID-LEVEL WAVE/ISENT LIFT... DIVERGENCE ALOFT...AND MILD SELY H85 FLO...AL PROGGD AGAIN TO BE INVOF CWA...WENT ABV FAN/FWC AND GAVE 40 POPS TONITE ALL ZONES. TEMPS LUK FINE AND WIL NOT DEVIATE. ONLY DIFFERENCE FROM LAST NITE IS THE TIMING OF FAST-MOVING S/W ENERGY IN NWLY FLO ALOFT. BEST TRIGGER LOOKS TO BE INVOF NWRN CO/SCNTRL WYO AND CHARGING FAST. BY THE TIME IT REACHES CWA...H7 TEMPS WILL HAVE WARMED FROM ABT 9C TO ABT 13C IN A SW/NE DIRECTION AND CAPPED. THINK ERN CO ZNS FOR THE MOST PART WILL BE PCPN FREE AFTER MIDNIGHT. FURTHER EAST ACRS NWRN KS...BEST CHC FOR PCPN AFT 03Z LUKS TO BE ALONG AND EAST OF A GLD/TRB LINE AS UPPER S/W ENTERS THEN EXITS REGION LATE. LLJ LUKS TO SET UP MAINLY EAST OF GLD AND BTWN HLC AND CBK TONITE. CONSIDERED FLASH FLOOD WATCH BUT CONSIDERING WHERE RR QUAD OF EXITING STREAK SHUD/CUD BE...HVY PCPN PROBABLY MAINLY NORTH OF I-70 OR OVER NEBR ZNS. LONG TERM: UPPER LEVEL RIDGE HAD BEEN PROGGED TO MOVE OVER THE COUNTY WARNING AREA FRIDAY AND SATURDAY...BUT LATEST RUNS INDICATE THAT AN ACTIVE CONVECTIVE PATTERN WILL CONTINUE. THIS SEEMS REASONABLE AS WEAK SHORT WAVES PASS OVER THE HIGH PLAINS FROM THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. THE AIR MASS OVER THE AREA WILL CONTINUE TO BE RELATIVELY MOIST AND UNSTABLE. WEAK SURFACE BOUNDARY WILL EXTEND FROM EASTERN WYOMING TO SOUTHEASTERN COLORADO BY FRIDAY AFTERNOON WHICH MAY SERVE AS A FOCUSING MECHANISM FOR CONVECTION. NGM GRIDDED DATA SHOWS SOME ENHANCED LIFT BY FRIDAY AFTERNOON. SO...WILL KEEP MENTION OF THUNDERSTORMS GOING THROUGH FRIDAY EVENING. WARMER AIR WILL MOVE OVER THE AREA SATURDAY...AND THE AIR MASS MAY BECOME CAPPED AT THAT POINT. SHOULD ALSO HAVE SOME WEAK DOWNSLOPE WINDS NEAR THE COLORADO/KANSAS BORDER. WILL KEEP AFTERNOON CONV0ECTION MENTIONED IN THE EASTERN PARTS OF AREA...BUT WILL GO DRY ELSEWHERE. GLD 63/89/63/94 4231 HLC 64/92/68/94 4332 CBK 63/90/64/95 4231 MCK 63/91/65/95 4231 TRB 63/91/65/95 4231 ITR 62/89/63/92 4231 VOJTESAK/MENTZER
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Aug 1, 3:21 PM MDT, 2 hours 20 minutes before
COZ090>092-KSZ001-002-013-014-027-028-041-042-NEZ079-012325- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 321 PM MDT (421 PM CDT) THU AUG 1 1996 ...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR PARTS OF NORTHWEST KANSAS...EXTREME EASTERN COLORADO...AND SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH UNTIL 9 PM MDT (10 PM CDT) FOR PARTS OF NORTHWEST KANSAS...SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA...AND EXTREME EASTERN COLORADO. IN NEBRASKA...DUNDY COUNTY IS IN THE WATCH. IN COLORADO...YUMA...CHEYENNE...AND KIT CARSON COUNTIES ARE IN THE WATCH. IN KANSAS...CHEYENNE...RAWLINS...SHERMAN...THOMAS...WALLACE...LOGAN ...GREELEY...AND WICHITA COUNTIES ARE IN THE WATCH. REMEMBER THAT A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH MEANS THAT CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP. DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL OCCUR WITH SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. IF A THUNDERSTORM MOVES NEAR YOUR AREA...SEEK SHELTER INSIDE A REINFORCED BUILDING. MENTZER
Special weather statement, Aug 1, 5:17 PM MDT, 24 minutes before
NEZ080-081-020320- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 517 PM MDT (617 PM CDT) THU AUG 1 1996 ...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH NUMBER 899 IS IN EFFECT FOR HITCHCOCK AND RED WILLOW COUNTIES UNTIL 10 PM CDT... SEVERAL CLUSTERS OF THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DEVELOPED ACROSS THE HIGH PLAINS OF EASTERN COLORADO AND WESTERN NEBRASKA THIS AFTERNOON. THESE THUNDERSTORMS HAVE HAD A HISTORY OF 3/4- TO 1 3/4-INCH HAIL. THIS EVENING...THESE STORMS WILL CONTINUE TO INTENSIFY AS THEY MOVE IN THE AREA FROM THE NORTHWEST. IF YOU PLAN TO BE OUTDOORS THIS EVENING...CHECK THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION AND KEEP A WEATHER EYE ON THE SKY. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...GO INSIDE A STRONG BUILDING. DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN AND DEADLY LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. STAY INSIDE AWAY FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED. VOJTESAK
The office that day
Everything else NWS Goodland, KS issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 31, 8:40 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD | Yuma | 65 min |
| Jul 31, 8:57 PM MDT | Flash Flood Warning | GLD | Yuma | 63 min |
| Jul 31, 8:57 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD | Yuma | 63 min |
| Jul 31, 9:13 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD | Kit Carson | 62 min |
| Jul 31, 10:13 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD | Kit Carson | 62 min |
| Aug 1, 3:52 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD | Yuma | 48 min |
| Aug 1, 4:40 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD | Yuma | 50 min |
| Aug 1, 5:23 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD | Yuma | 47 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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.