Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 239, NWS Pueblo, CO

September 2, 1996Baca County, Colorado

NWS Pueblo, CO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 2, 1996, 5:20 PM MDT for Baca County, Colorado. It was in force for 45 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
Sep 2, 1996, 5:20 PM MDT (23:20 UTC)
Expired
Sep 2, 1996, 6:05 PM MDT
In force
45 min
Issued by
NWS Pueblo, CO
Area
Whole counties

County Baca County, CO

The radar

The Pueblo radar (KPUX), 191 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:20 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
Sep 2, 6:15 PM MDTHail 0.88Springfield, 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

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 12:00Z, 11.3 hours before the alert went out and 240 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, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 1996-09-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1475 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, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 1996-09-02The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 242 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
1475 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-208 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
671 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
242 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
317 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
11.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KPUB 022320
SVRPUB
COC009-030005-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
520 PM MDT MON SEP 2 1996

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  BACA COUNTY      IN SOUTHEAST COLORADO

* UNTIL 605 PM MDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    SPRINGFIELD BY 520 PM
    TWO BUTTES AND HIGHWAY 116 BY 525 PM
    OPEN COUNTRY NORTHEAST OF TWO BUTTES BY 520 PM

* AT 517 PM RADAR SHOWED SEVERE STORMS 9 MILES NORTHEAST OF TWO
  BUTTES...NEAR TWO BUTTES ALONG HIGHWAY 116...AND 4 MILES
  SOUTHWEST OF SPRINGFIELD...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

REMEMBER...SEVERE STORMS CAN PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE WARNING.

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

A FOLLOW UP STATEMENT WITH MORE DETAILS WILL BE OUT SHORTLY.

JKH

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, Sep 2, 11:51 AM MDT, 5 hours 29 minutes before
COZ060>081-030600-

SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST
COLORADO
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
1149 AM MDT MON SEP 2 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

ISOLATED TO WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THIS
AFTERNOON AND EARLY THIS EVENING.  MOST OF THESE STORMS WILL
PRODUCE STRONG GUSTY WINDS BUT LITTLE IF ANY RAINFALL.  WINDS
GUSTS COULD EXCEED 60 MPH FROM A FEW STORMS...BUT THE MAJORITY OF
THUNDERSTORMS WILL PRODUCE WIND GUSTS OF 30 TO 50 MPH.

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED DUE TO THE ISOLATED NATURE OF
THE THUNDERSTORMS.
Special weather statement, Sep 2, 4:25 PM MDT, 55 minutes before
COZ081-022330-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
425 PM MDT MON SEP 2 1996

...STRONG THUNDERSTORM IN BACA COUNTY...

A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WILL MOVE OVER HIGHWAY 287/385 NORTH OF
SPRINGFIELD...THROUGH 445PM...AND THEN OVER HIGHWAY 116 AND NEAR
TWO BUTTES BY 450 PM.

AT 425 PM THE STORM WAS LOCATED 3 MILES NORTH OF SPRINGFIELD AND WAS
MOVING NORTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 2, 4:31 PM MDTTornado WarningPUBBaca49 min
Sep 2, 5:03 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUBProwers47 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.