Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 149, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO

August 28, 1997Lincoln County, Colorado

NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 28, 1997, 5:34 PM MDT for Lincoln County, Colorado. It was in force for 41 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties.

The facts

Issued
Aug 28, 1997, 5:34 PM MDT (23:34 UTC)
Expired
Aug 28, 1997, 6:15 PM MDT
In force
41 min
Issued by
NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
Area
Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Lincoln County, CO

The radar

The Pueblo radar (KPUX), 30 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:37 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.

The nearest sounding before it

Fort Carson/Butt, CO (KFCS), launched 12:00Z, 11.6 hours before the alert went out and 64 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 1997-08-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 972 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, Fort Carson/Butt, CO at 12:00Z on 1997-08-28The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 122 square meters per square second.1939587897117136156175194214233253272292311330350369389408428Sfc1 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
972 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-60 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1362 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
122 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
99 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 KDEN 282335 RRA
SVRDEN
COC073-290015-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
534 PM MDT THU AUG 28 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 615 PM MDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE
FOLLOWING COUNTIES...

IN EAST CENTRAL COLORADO
     SOUTHWESTERN LINCOLN

AT 533 PM MDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ALONG THE EL PASO AND LINCOLN COUNTY BORDER JUST 
SOUTH OF RUSH...WHICH IS ABOUT 39 MILES SOUTHWEST OF LIMON.

THE STORM WAS MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MILES PER HOUR.

GOLF BALL SIZED HAIL IS POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM. THREE QUARTER INCH 
HAIL WAS REPORTED 1 MILE EAST OF YODER IN EL PASO COUNTY. IF YOU ARE 
IN THE PATH OF THE STORM...PUT YOUR CAR IN A GARAGE AND MOVE TO A 
SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER.

REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. THEY
WILL RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST
OFFICE IN DENVER.

HERRALD
LAT...LON 3853 10383 3853 10406 3880 10405 3887 10405
          3875 10393

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, Aug 28, 3:46 PM MDT, 1 hour 48 minutes before
COZ039-043-282230-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
346 PM MDT THU AUG 28 1997

...STRONG THUNDERSTORM MOVING THROUGH SOUTHEASTERN BOULDER COUNTY
AND INTO SOUTHWESTERN WELD COUNTY...

AT 346 PM MDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
STRONG THUNDERSTORM 2 MILES WEST OF LOUISVILLE...OR ABOUT 20 MILES
NORTHWEST OF DENVER.

THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MILES PER HOUR.

PERSONS IN OR NEAR LOUISVILLE...ERIE...FIRESTONE...AND LAFAYETTE
SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING WEATHER.  THIS STORM WILL
PRODUCE PEA TO MARBLE SIZED HAIL...GUSTY WINDS UP TO 45 MPH...AND A
QUICK 1/2 INCH OF RAIN.

WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A STRONG
BUILDING. DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS. DO NOT USE TELEPHONES OR
ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES...UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY...UNTIL THE STORM HAS
PASSED. MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.

BARJENBRUCH
Special weather statement, Aug 28, 3:49 PM MDT, 1 hour 45 minutes before
COZ039-043-282230-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
346 PM MDT THU AUG 28 1997

...STRONG THUNDERSTORM MOVING THROUGH SOUTHEASTERN BOULDER COUNTY
AND INTO SOUTHWESTERN WELD COUNTY...

AT 346 PM MDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
STRONG THUNDERSTORM 2 MILES WEST OF LOUISVILLE...OR ABOUT 20 MILES
NORTHWEST OF DENVER.

THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MILES PER HOUR.

PERSONS IN OR NEAR LOUISVILLE...ERIE...FIRESTONE...AND LAFAYETTE
SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING WEATHER.  THIS STORM WILL
PRODUCE PEA TO MARBLE SIZED HAIL...GUSTY WINDS UP TO 45 MPH...AND A
QUICK 1/2 INCH OF RAIN.

WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A STRONG
BUILDING. DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS. DO NOT USE TELEPHONES OR
ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES...UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY...UNTIL THE STORM HAS
PASSED. MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.

BARJENBRUCH

The office that day

Everything else NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 28, 12:25 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUElbert, Lincoln65 min
Aug 28, 2:00 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningBOUElbert, Lincoln2 hr
Aug 28, 2:00 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUElbert, Lincoln2 hr
Aug 28, 4:58 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUDouglas, Elbert47 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Colorado, 1997Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1997

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.