Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 1, NWS Pueblo, CO

May 9, 1996El Paso County, Colorado

NWS Pueblo, CO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 9, 1996, 5:31 PM MDT for El Paso 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
May 9, 1996, 5:31 PM MDT (23:31 UTC)
Expired
May 9, 1996, 6:05 PM MDT
In force
34 min
Issued by
NWS Pueblo, CO
Area
Whole counties

County El Paso County, CO

The radar

The Pueblo radar (KPUX), 51 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:33 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 9, 6:15 PM MDTHail 0.75Falcon, 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

Fort Carson/Butt, CO (KFCS), launched 12:00Z, 11.5 hours before the alert went out and 23 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, Fort Carson/Butt, CO at 12:00Z on 1996-05-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Fort Carson/Butt, CO at 12:00Z on 1996-05-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 98 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
818 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
52 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
98 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
207 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KPUB 092332
SVRPUB
COC041-100005-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
531 PM MDT THU MAY 9 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PUEBLO CO HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 605 PM MDT
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN EAST CENTRAL COLORADO

   ...NORTHEASTERN EL PASO COUNTY
 
A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL MOVE NEAR RAMAH BY 535 PM MDT...BRINGING 3/4
INCH DIAMETER OR LARGER HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS OVER 60 MPH.

AT 530 PM MDT...RADAR SHOWED THE SEVERE STORM 2 MILES WEST OF RAMAH
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.
 
IF YOU PLAN TO BE OUTDOORS...CHECK THE LATEST WEATHER
INFORMATION AND KEEP AN EYE TO THE SKY. DEADLY LIGHTNING CAN
OCCUR WITH ALL THUNDERSTORMS. IF A THUNDERSTORM APPROACHES... GET
INDOORS OR IN A VEHICLE. LIGHTNING CAN STRIKE SEVERAL MILES AWAY
FROM THE STORM...WHERE IT IS NOT RAINING AND WHERE YOU MAY BE.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm 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, May 9, 11:58 AM MDT, 5 hours 33 minutes before
COZ060>081-100600-

SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST
COLORADO
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
1155 AM MDT THU MAY 9 1995

THIS OUTLOOK PERTAINS TO THE FOLLOWING COLORADO COUNTIES

ALAMOSA    BACA         BENT         CHAFFEE        CONEJOS
COSTILLA   CROWLEY      CUSTER       EL PASO        FREMONT
HUERFANO   KIOWA        LAS ANIMAS   MINERAL        OTERO
PROWERS    PUEBLO       RIO GRANDE   SAGUACHE       TELLER

A SHALLOW LAYER OF LOW LEVEL MOISTURE WILL GRADUALLY DISSIPATE THIS
AFTERNOON OVER MUCH OF THE SOUTHEAST PLAINS. ENOUGH LOW LEVEL MOISTURE
WILL REMAIN OVER KIOWA...BENT...LAS ANIMAS...AND PROWERS COUNTY TO
PRODUCE WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL PRODUCE GUSTY WINDS...LOCAL DOWNPOURS...AND
LIGHTNING.  AT THIS TIME...THE THUNDERSTORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO
APPROACH SEVERE LIMITS AND SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED.

OVER THE MOUNTAINS WIDELY SCATTE~RED THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP THIS
AFTERNOON.  THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL NOT APPROACH SEVERE LIMITS.

WOLYN
Special weather statement, May 9, 5:17 PM MDT, 14 minutes before
COZ071-072-100120-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
516 PM MDT THU MAY 9 1996

...TORNADO WATCH UNTIL 1100 PM MDT FOR EASTERN EL PASO COUNTY...
...STRONG THUNDERSTORM MOVING ACROSS NORTHEAST EL PASO COUNTY...

A STRONG THUNDERSTORM JUST EAST OF PEYTON AT 510 PM...WILL CONTINUE
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH AND WILL PASS JUST NORTH OF CALHAN BY 520 PM
AND WILL APPROACH RAMAH BY 540 PM.  SMALL HAIL AND STRONG WINDS ARE
POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM.

OTHER THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED OVER THE CITY OF COLORADO
SPRINGS...ALSO MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.

IF YOU PLAN TO BE OUTDOORS...CHECK THE LATEST WEATHER
INFORMATION AND KEEP AN EYE TO THE SKY. DEADLY LIGHTNING CAN
OCnCUR WITH ALL THUNDERSTORMS. IF A THUNDERSTORM APPROACHES... GET
INDOORS OR IN A VEHICLE. LIGHTNING CAN STRIKE SEVERAL MILES AWAY
FROM THE STORM...WHERE IT IS NOT RAINING AND WHERE YOU MAY BE.

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Colorado, 1996Every severe thunderstorm warning 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.