Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 143, NWS Pueblo, CO

July 23, 1996Las Animas County, Colorado

NWS Pueblo, CO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 23, 1996, 5:24 PM MDT for Las Animas County, Colorado. It was in force for 61 min. 2 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 23, 1996, 5:24 PM MDT (23:24 UTC)
Expired: Jul 23, 1996, 6:25 PM MDT
In force: 61 min
Issued by: NWS Pueblo, CO
Area: Whole counties

County Las Animas County, CO

The radar

The Pueblo radar (KPUX), 128 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:24 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
Jul 23, 5:30 PM MDT	Hail 0.75	Model, CO
Jul 23, 5:30 PM MDT	Thunderstorm Wind 52	Model, 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, 11.4 hours before the alert went out and 293 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: 711 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -291 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1597 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 57 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 79 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.7

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 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, Jul 23, 11:57 AM MDT, 5 hours 27 minutes before

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Special weather statement, Jul 23, 2:40 PM MDT, 2 hours 44 minutes before

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        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
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Special weather statement, Jul 23, 3:45 PM MDT, 1 hour 39 minutes before

COZ063-064-232235-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
345 PM MDT TUE JUL 23 1996

...STRONG THUNDERSTORM ENTERING THE SOUTHERN SAN LUIS VALLEY...

A STRONG THUNDERSTORM...BRINGING LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN...HAIL UP TO 1/2
INCH DIAMETER AND WIND GUSTS TO 45 MPH WILL MOVE INTO OPEN COUNTY OF
SOUTHEAST RIO GRANDE COUNTY AND NORTHEAST CONEJOS COUNTY BY 400 PM.
THIS STORM WILL REACH HIGHWAY 15 BY 400 PM....THEN MOVE OVER HIGHWAY
3@70.

AT 340 PM DOPPLER RADAR SHOWED THE STRONG THUNDERSTORM 6 MILES
SOUTHWEST OF MONTE VISTA MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

PERSONS ALONG HIGHWAY 15 AND 370 SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR THE STRONG
THUNDERSTORM.

WOLYN

Special weather statement, Jul 23, 4:12 PM MDT, 1 hour 12 minutes before

COZ075-077-232245-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
412 PM MDT TUE JUL 23 1996

...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM OVER THE RATON MESA WILL PRODUCE HEAVY RAIN
...STRONG WIND GUSTS AND POSSIBLE SMALL HAIL BEFORE IT MOVES INTO NEW
MEXICO BY 430 PM MDT...

AT 410 PM MDT...RADAR SHOWED THE STORM 8 MILES SOUTHEAST OF TRINIDAD
...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT NEAR 20 MPH.

GRAY

Special weather statement, Jul 23, 4:54 PM MDT, 30 minutes before

COZ072-232330-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
454 PM MDT TUE JUL 23 1996

...A VERY STRONG THUNDERSTORM MOVING THROUGH ELBERT COUNTY WILL ALSO
AFFECT NORTHEAST EL PASO COUNTY THROUGH 515 PM MDT...

STRONG THUNDERSTORM WINDS...AND POSSIBLE HAIL COULD OCCUR AROUND
RAMAH IN THE EXTREME NORTHEAST CORNER OF EL PASO COUNTY. AT 450 PM
MDT...RADAR SHOWED THE STORM 6 MILES NORTH OF RAMAH...MOVING
SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM MDT.

Special weather statement, Jul 23, 5:20 PM MDT, 4 minutes before

COZ072-232355-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
520 PM MDT TUE JUL 23 1996

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM MOVING THROUGH ELBERT COUNTY WILL CONTINUE
TO AFFECT EXTREME NORTHEAST AND EASTERN EL PASO COUNTY THROUGH 545
PM MDT...

PEOPLE IN THE RAMAH AND CALHAN AREA SHOULD STILL ANTICIPATE VERY STRONG
THUNDERSTORM WINDS AND POSSIBLE HAIL AS THIS STORM CONTINUES TO MOVE
SOUTHEAST AROUND 25 MPH.

AT 515 PM MDT...THE STORM WAS XOVER SIMLA ON HIGHWAY 24...MOVING
SOUTHEAST AROUND 25 MPH. EASTBOUND MOTORISTS ON HIGHWAY 24 FROM
CALHAN TO RAMAH AND SIMLA SHOULD EXERCISE EXTREME CAUTION IN THE
AREA OF THIS STORM. FLOODING OF LOW LYING AREAS ON THE HIGHWAY
ARE POSSIBLE.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Pueblo, CO issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 22, 8:19 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	Pueblo	51 min
Jul 22, 8:44 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	El Paso	61 min
Jul 22, 9:05 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	Pueblo	65 min
Jul 22, 9:10 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	PUB	Pueblo	50 min
Jul 22, 9:31 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	Pueblo	2 hr
Jul 22, 9:59 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	El Paso	61 min
Jul 22, 10:09 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	Pueblo	46 min
Jul 23, 5:58 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	El Paso	62 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Colorado, 1996 Every 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.