Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 45, NWS Pueblo, CO

June 16, 1996Custer County, Colorado

NWS Pueblo, CO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 16, 1996, 4:21 PM MDT for Custer County, Colorado. It was in force for 34 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: Jun 16, 1996, 4:21 PM MDT (22:21 UTC)
Expired: Jun 16, 1996, 4:55 PM MDT
In force: 34 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 22:20 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

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Jun 16, 4:25 PM MDT	Hail 0.75	Westcliffe, 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, 10.4 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-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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1401 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -30 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -21 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 162222
SVRPUB
COC027-162255-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
421 PM MDT SUN JUN 16 1996

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  EASTERN CUSTER COUNTY      IN SOUTHEAST COLORADO

* UNTIL 455 PM MDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
    FAIRVIEW BY 430 PM MDT

* AT 420 PM MDT RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE STORM 8 MILES SOUTHWEST OF
  WETMORE MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 30 MPH.



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

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, Jun 16, 11:51 AM MDT, 4 hours 30 minutes before

COZ060>081-170600-

SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST COLORADO
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
1150 AM MDT SUN JUN 16 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

RELATIVELY DRY AND STABLE AIR HAS NOW SPREAD OVER SOUTHERN COLORADO IN
THE WAKE OF YESTERDAY'S THUNDERSTORMS.  CONSEQUENTLY...SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS WILL NUMBER FAR LESS TODAY.

SINCE THE AIRMASS IS MORE DRY AND STABLE...IT ALSO LACKS THE BUOYANT
ENERGY NEEDED TO BUILD SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.  AS A RESULT...
THUNDERSTORMS TODAY MAY PRODUCE BRIEF HEAVY SHOWERS...GUSTY WINDS AND
DANGEROUS LIGHTNING...BUT THEY ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BECOME SEVERE.

SINCE SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED TODAY...NEITHER IS SPOTTER
ACTIVATION.

LW

Special weather statement, Jun 16, 2:53 PM MDT, 1 hour 28 minutes before

COZ068-071-073-162155-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
253 PM MDT SUN JUN 16 1996

...THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING AGAIN THIS AFTERNOON IN THE HIGH COUNTRY...

SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WERE DEVELOPING AT MID AFTERNOON ACROSS THE
HIGHER TERRAIN OF FREMONT COUNTY AND SOUTHWEST EL PASO COUNTY.

AT 245 PM MDT...DOPPLER RADAR IN PUEBLO SHOWED THE STRONGEST
THUNDERSTORM LOCATED ABOUT 16 MILES TO THE NORTHEAST OF CANON CITY...
OR ABOUT 11 MILES SOUTHEAST OF CRIPPLE CREEK.  A LINE OF OTHER
THUNDERSTORMS STRETCHED FROM JUST WEST OF SALIDA...IN CHAFFEE
COUNTY...INTO EXTREME SOUTHWEST EL PASO COUNTY.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS ARE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HEAVY RAIN...
STRONG WIND GUSTS TO 50 MPH...AND HAIL OF 1/4 TO 1/2 INCH
IN DIAMETER.

LOCALIZED HEAVIER RAINFALL COULD PRODUCE PONDING OF WATER ON
ROADWAYS AND ACROSS LOW LYING AREAS...ESPECIALLY WHERE THE GROUND
IS ALREADY SATURATED FROM RECENT HEAVY RAINS.

THE THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING SOUTHEAST AROUND 15 MPH...AND ARE
EXPECTED TO MOVE INTO SOUTHERN EL PASO AND WESTERN PUEBLO COUNTIES
BY 320 PM MDT.

Special weather statement, Jun 16, 3:47 PM MDT, 34 minutes before

COZ073-162250-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
347 PM MDT SUN JUN 16 1996

...STRONG THUNDERSTORM OVER THE ROYAL GORGE IN FREMONT COUNTY...

A STRONG THUNDERSTORM PRODUCING HAIL UP TO A HALF INCH IN
DIAMETER...ALONG WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN AND WINDS GUSTING AS
HIGH AS 50 MPH...WILL BE NOTED OVER THE ROYAL GORGE BY 345 PM.

AT 344 PM THE THUNDERSTORM WAS LOCATED ABOUT 5 MILES WEST NORTHWEST
OF CANON CITY...NEARING THE ROYAL GORGE.  THIS STORM WAS MOVING
SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH...AND WILL BE MOVING INTO CANON CITY BY 400 PM.

ANYONE RAFTING...TRAVELLING...OR INVOLVED IN OTHER RECREATIONAL
ACTIVITIES ACROSS CENTRAL AND EASTERN FREMONT COUNTY LATE THIS
AFTERNOON SHOULD BE PREPARING FOR STRONG THUNDERSTORMS.

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.

Special weather statement, Jun 16, 4:02 PM MDT, 19 minutes before

COZ068-162305-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
402 PM MDT SUN JUN 16 1996

...STORM DEVELOPING OVER NORTHEASTERN CUSTER COUNTY...

AT 355 PM...PUEBLO DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING THUNDERSTORM
MOVING INTO NORTHEASTERN CUSTER COUNTY. THE STORM WAS 15 MILES
NORTHEAST OF THE TOWN OF WESTCLIFFE...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

THIS STORM IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE BRIEF HEAVY RAIN...HAIL 1/2 INCH OR
LESS IN DIAMETER...~GUSTY WINDS...AND DEADLY LIGHTNING.

SOME COMMUNITIES AFFECTED BY THIS STORM WILL BE GREENWOOD BY 420 PM.

MOORE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 16, 5:44 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	Huerfano	46 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.