Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 172, NWS Pueblo, CO

July 29, 1996Custer County, Colorado

NWS Pueblo, CO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 29, 1996, 3:58 PM MDT for Custer County, Colorado. It was in force for 47 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 29, 1996, 3:58 PM MDT (21:58 UTC)
Expired
Jul 29, 1996, 4:45 PM MDT
In force
47 min
Issued by
NWS Pueblo, CO
Area
Whole counties

County Custer County, CO

The radar

The Pueblo radar (KPUX), 111 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:02 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 29, 4:15 PM MDTHail 1.5Westcliffe, 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, 10.0 hours before the alert went out and 269 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, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 1996-07-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 77 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 1996-07-29The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -8 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 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
77 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-143 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1542 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-8 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
49 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 292158
SVRPUB
COC027-292245-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
358 PM MDT MON JUL 29 1996

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  NORTHERN CUSTER COUNTY      IN SOUTHEAST COLORADO

* UNTIL 445 PM MDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    WESTCLIFFE BY 415 PM

* AT 355 PM RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE STORM 10 MILES NORTHWEST OF
  WESTCLIFFE MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

LISTEN TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR 6FOLLOW UP STATEMENTS AND
WARNINGS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PUEBLO.

PW

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 29, 12:09 PM MDT, 3 hours 49 minutes before
COZ060>081-300600-

SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST
COLORADO
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
1203 PM MDT MON JUL 29 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

ABUNDANT MOISTURE WILL PERSIST TODAY WITH A UPPER LEVEL WEATHER
DISTURBANCE APPROACHING FROM THE NORTHWEST.  MOIST UPSLOPE
EASTERLY WINDS WILL PREVAIL ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST PLAINS.

SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP
TODAY...WITH THE MAJORITY OF COVERAGE FROM THE LATE AFTERNOON
INTO THE NIGHTTIME HOURS.

THE MAIN THREAT FROM THUNDERSTORMS TODAY WILL BE LOCALLY HEAVY
RAINFALL...ESPECIALLY ALONG THE EASTERN FOOTHILLS FROM COLORADO
SPRINGS SOUTHWARD TO TRINIDAD.  THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE SLOW
MOVING...SO RAINFALL AMOUNTS IN EXCESS OF ONE INCH PER HOUR ARE
POSSIBLE FROM THE STRONGEST THUNDERSTORMS.

ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE...PRODUCING LARGE HAIL
AND/OR DAMAGING WINDS...BUT THE MAIN THREAT TODAY WILL BE LOCALLY
HEAVY RAINFALL.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IN THE COLORADO SPRINGS AND PUEBLO AREAS MAY
BE REQUIRED TODAY...MAINLY TO MONITOR RAINFALL AMOUNTS AND THE
POTENTIAL FLASH FLOOD THREAT.  RAINFALL REPORTS WILL BEN MOST
APPRECIATED.

"7"
Special weather statement, Jul 29, 3:24 PM MDT, 34 minutes before
COZ065-067>069-071>073-292230-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
323 PM MDT MON JUL 29 1996

...LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS FROM TELLER COUNTY TO THE UPPER
ARKANSAS RIVER VALLEY THIS AFTERNOON...

A LINE OF STRONG THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING HEAVY SHOWERS...PEA SIZED HAIL
AND WIND GUSTS TO AROUND 40 MPH WILL MOVE ACROSS WESTERN TELLER AND
WESTERN FREMONT COUNTIES THROUGH 4 PM MDT.

SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THE LINE INCLUDE...CRIPPLE
CREEK...DIVIDE...THE AIRFORCE ACADEMY AND MONUMENT BY 330 PM.
OTHER LOCATIONS INCLUDE TEXAS CREEK BY 335 PM AND THE ROYAL GORGE BY
340 PM MDT.

AT 320 PM MDT...THIS LINE OF STORMS EXTENDED FROM ABOUT 14 MILES WEST
OF THE AIRFORCE ACADEMY TO ABOUT 12 MILES NORTHWEST OF CRIPPLE CREEK TO
10 MILES SOUTHEAST OF SALIDA.  THE LINE WAS MOVING EAST AT 20 MPH.
Special weather statement, Jul 29, 3:44 PM MDT, 14 minutes before
COZ069-292235-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
344 PM MDT MON JUL 29 1996

...STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR COALDALE...

A STRONG THUNDERSTORM...PRODUCING LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN...SMALL HAIL AND
FREQUENT LIGHTNING WILL ACROSS MOUNTAINOUS COUNTRY OF SOUTHERN
FREMONT COUNTY...APPROACHING HILLSIDE BY 415 PM.

AT 340 PM DOPPLER RADAR IN PUEBLO SHOWED THE STRONG STORM OVER COALDALE
MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

RADAR ESTIMATES UP TO 1 INCH OF RAIN IN THE PAST HOUR FROM THIS STORM.

PERSONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR LOCALLY HEAVY
RAIN AND DANGEROUS LIGHNTING.

WOLYN

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.