Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 179, NWS Pueblo, CO

July 31, 1996El Paso County, Colorado

NWS Pueblo, CO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 31, 1996, 2:15 PM MDT for El Paso County, Colorado. It was in force for 60 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 31, 1996, 2:15 PM MDT (20:15 UTC)
Expired
Jul 31, 1996, 3:15 PM MDT
In force
60 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 20:17 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 31, 3:12 PM MDTThunderstorm Wind 52Calhan, 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, 8.3 hours before the alert went out and 160 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 1996-07-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 66 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 1996-07-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 49 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
66 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-290 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1655 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
49 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
61 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

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 31, 12:08 PM MDT, 2 hours 7 minutes before
COZ060>081-010600-

SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST
COLORADO
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
1206 AM MDT WED JUL 31 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

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING
ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST PLAINS...

ABUNDANT LOW AND MID LEVEL MOISTURE WILL PERSIST TODAY ACROSS THE
MAJORITY OF THE SOUTHEAST PLAINS.  MODERATE INSTABILITY WILL
COMBINE WITH DAYTIME HEATING TO PRODUCE SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS
THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING...MAINLY OVER THE SOUTHEAST
PLAINS...PRIMARILY IN CROWLEY...OTERO...KIOWA...BENT...EASTERN
LAS ANIMAS... PROWERS AND BACA COUNTIES...A FEW THUNDERSTORMS
COULD BECOME SEVERE...PRODUCING HAIL 3/4 OF AN INCH OR LARGER IN
DIAMETER AND/OR WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH.  MOVEMENT OF
STORMS WILL BE TO THE SOUTHEAST.

A FEW OF THE STRONGER STORMS WILL PRODUCE RAINFALL AMOUNTS IN
EXCESS OF ONE INCH PER HOUR...WHICH COULD CAUSE FLOODING OF LOW
LYING AREAS...ROADS...DITCHES...UNDERPASSES AND NORMALLY DRY
ARROYOS.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IN COLORADO SPRINGS AND PUEBLO MAY BE
NECESSARY LATER TODAY...AND REPORTS OF SIGNIFICANT WEATHER WILL
BE MOST APPRECIATED. $
Special weather statement, Jul 31, 12:14 PM MDT, 2 hours 1 minute before
COZ060>081-010600-

SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST
COLORADO
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
1206 PM MDT WED JUL 31 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

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING
ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST PLAINS...

ABUNDANT LOW AND MID LEVEL MOISTURE WILL PERSIST TODAY ACROSS THE
MAJORITY OF THE SOUTHEAST PLAINS.  MODERATE INSTABILITY WILL
COMBINE WITH DAYTIME HEATING TO PRODUCE SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS
THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING...MAINLY OVER THE SOUTHEAST
PLAINS...PRIMARILY IN CROWLEY...OTERO...KIOWA...BENT...EASTERN
LAS ANIMAS... PROWERS AND BACA COUNTIES...A FEW THUNDERSTORMS
COULD BECOME SEVERE...PRODUCING HAIL 3/4 OF AN INCH OR LARGER IN
DIAMETER AND/OR WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH.  MOVEMENT OF
STORMS WILL BE TO THE SOUTHEAST.

A FEW OF THE STRONGER STORMS WILL PRODUCE RAINFALL AMOUNTS IN
EXCESS OF ONE INCH PER HOUR...WHICH COU:LD CAUSE FLOODING OF LOW
LYING AREAS...ROADS...DITCHES...UNDERPASSES AND NORMALLY DRY
ARROYOS.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IN COLORADO SPRINGS AND PUEBLO MAY BE
NECESSARY LATER TODAY...AND REPORTS OF SIGNIFICANT WEATHER WILL
BE MOST APPRECIATED.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 30, 9:03 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUBEl Paso, Pueblo47 min
Jul 31, 4:52 AM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUBKiowa63 min
Jul 31, 4:31 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUBBaca64 min
Jul 31, 5:20 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUBBaca60 min
Jul 31, 5:29 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUBKiowa61 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.