Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 161, NWS Pueblo, CO

July 25, 1996El Paso County, Teller County, Colorado

NWS Pueblo, CO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 25, 1996, 2:02 PM MDT for El Paso County, Teller County, Colorado. It was in force for 63 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
Jul 25, 1996, 2:02 PM MDT (20:02 UTC)
Expired
Jul 25, 1996, 3:05 PM MDT
In force
63 min
Issued by
NWS Pueblo, CO
Area
Whole counties

Counties El Paso County, CO, Teller County, CO

The radar

The Pueblo radar (KPUX), 73 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:01 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
Jul 25, 2:12 PM MDTHail 0.75Divide, 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, 8.0 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 1996-07-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1040 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 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 1996-07-25The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 23 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 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
1040 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-36 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
692 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
23 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
95 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 KPUB 252003
SVRPUB
COC041-119-252105-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
202 PM MDT THU JUL 25 1996

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  WESTERN EL PASO COUNTY      IN EAST CENTRAL COLORADO
  EASTERN TELLER COUNTY      IN EAST CENTRAL COLORADO

* UNTIL 305 PM MDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    CRYSTOLA...GREEN MOUNTAIN FALLS...CASCADE BY 220 PM MDT AND MANITOU
    SPRINGS BY 230 PM MDT.

* AT 2 PM MDT RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE STORM NEAR DIVIDE MOVING EAST AT
  15 MPH.

A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT.  SEVERE STORMS CAN PRODUCE TORNADOES.

LISTEN TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR FOLLOW UP STATEMENTS WHICH WILL BE
ISSUED SHORTLY BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PUEBLO.


RMG

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 25, 12:07 PM MDT, 1 hour 55 minutes before
COZ060>081-260600-

SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST COLORADO
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
1205 PM MDT THU JUL 25 1996

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

THE ATMOSPHERE OVER SOUTHEAST COLORADO REMAINS ESSENTIALLY UNCHANGED
FROM PREVIOUS DAYS.  CONSEQUENTLY...ANOTHER ROUND OF SEVERE STORMS IS
EXPECTED.  ADDITIONALLY...SOUTH CENTRAL COLORADO WILL LIKELY SEE A FAIR
NUMBER OF STORMS TODAY DUE TO AN INFLUX OF MOISTURE INTO THE SAN LUIS
VALLEY OVERNIGHT.

THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIKELY START OUT ON THE WEAK SIDE EARLY THIS
AFTERNOON.  BY LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING...A FEW STORMS WILL
LIKELY BECOME SEVERE AS AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE TRIGGERS DEEP
CONVECTION.

WITH THE ATMOSPHERE OVER SOUTHEAST COLORADO ESSENTIALLY UNCHANGED FROM
PREVIOUS DAYS...THE MAIN THREATS FROM THUNDERSTORMS TODAY REMAIN THE
SAME.  COLD AIR ALOFT WILL ALLOW FOR LARGE HAIL PRODUCTION AND WIND
SHEAR PROFILES AGAIN SUPPORT THE POSSIBILITY OF A FEW TORNADIC STORMS.

OVER THE SAN LUIS VALLEY...STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO PRODUCE HEAVY
DOWNPOURS...SMALL HAIL AND STRONG WINDS.

IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE BULK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY OVER
SOUTHEAST COLORADO WILL AGA,IN HOLD OFF UNTIL THIS EVENING AS THE UPPER
LEVEL DISTURBANCE IS NOT EXPECTED UNTIL THAT TIME.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NECESSARY LATE TODAY OR THIS EVENING SO
SPOTTERS SHOULD REMAIN HANDY.

LW
Special weather statement, Jul 25, 12:29 PM MDT, 1 hour 33 minutes before
COZ068-073-251920-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
1228 PM MDT THU JUL 25 1996

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WEST OF CANON CITY...

A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WILL MOVE ACROSS CANON CITY BY 1245 PM...BRING
HAIL UP TO 1/2 DIAMETER AND BRING HEAVY RAIN.

AT 1225 PM DOPLLER RADAR IN PUEBLO SHOWED THE STORM 8 MILES NORTHWEST
OF CANON CITY MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20 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.l

WOLYN

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 24, 6:01 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUBKiowa89 min
Jul 24, 6:39 PM MDTTornado WarningPUBKiowa46 min
Jul 24, 7:05 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUBBent60 min
Jul 24, 7:59 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUBBent61 min
Jul 24, 9:11 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUBEl Paso49 min
Jul 24, 10:00 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUBEl Paso65 min
Jul 25, 3:15 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUBHuerfano35 min
Jul 25, 4:36 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUBLas Animas34 min
Jul 25, 5:21 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUBLas Animas64 min

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.