Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 150, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO

August 31, 1997Adams County, Arapahoe County, Denver County, Colorado

NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 31, 1997, 5:21 PM MDT for Adams County, Arapahoe County, Denver County, Colorado. It was in force for 39 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 31, 1997, 5:21 PM MDT (23:21 UTC)
Expired
Aug 31, 1997, 6:00 PM MDT
In force
39 min
Issued by
NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
Area
Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

Counties Adams County, CO, Arapahoe County, CO, Denver County, CO

The radar

The Denver radar (KFTG), 8 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:23 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

Denver, CO (KDNR), launched 12:00Z, 11.4 hours before the alert went out and 120 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 1997-08-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 4 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 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 1997-08-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 9 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
4 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-309 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1804 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
9 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-19 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 312323 RRA
SVRDEN
COC001-005-031-010000-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
521 PM MDT SUN AUG 31 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 600 PM MDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE
FOLLOWING COUNTIES...

IN NORTHEAST COLORADO
     NORTHWESTERN ARAPAHOE...NORTHEASTERN DENVER AND WESTERN ADAMS

INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS
     NORTHEASTERN AURORA AND DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

AT 521 PM MDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER CENTRAL AURORA...OR ABOUT 10 MILES EAST OF
DENVER.

THE STORM WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AT 25 MILES PER HOUR.

HAIL OVER ONE INCH IN DIAMETER HAS BEEN REPORTED WITH THIS STORM. 
IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THE STORM...PUT YOUR CAR IN A GARAGE AND 
MOVE TO A SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER.

HEAVY RAINS ARE ALSO OCCURRING WITH THIS STORM.  FLOODING OF LOW 
LYING AREAS SUCH AS DITCHES AND UNDERPASSES IS LIKELY. AVOID THESE AREAS 
AND DO NOT CROSS FLOODED ROADS AS THEY MAY BE WASHED OUT. WATER 
LEVELS OF SMALL STREAMS AND RIVERS MAY ALSO RISE...THEREFORE SEEK 
HIGHER GROUND IF THREATENED BY FLOOD WATERS.

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

LAT...LON 3986 10449 3969 10477 3973 10481 3995 10460

GIMMESTAD
&

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 31, 11:22 AM MDT, 5 hours 59 minutes before
COZ030-032>050-010600-

SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
1120 AM MDT SUN AUG 31 1997

THIS OUTLOOK PERTAINS TO THE FOLLOWING COLORADO COUNTIES

ADAMS     ARAPAHOE     BOULDER   CLEAR CREEK   DENVER       DOUGLAS
ELBERT    GILPIN       GRAND     JACKSON       JEFFERSON    LARIMER
LINCOLN   LOGAN        MORGAN    PARK          PHILLIPS     SEDGWICK
SUMMIT    WASHINGTON   WELD

SYNOPSIS:  SURFACE DEWPOINTS ACROSS NORTHEAST COLORADO INDICATE THAT
LOW LEVEL MOISTURE REMAINS IN PLACE THIS MORNING WHILE SATELLITE
PICTURES SHOW MONSOONAL MOISTURE CONTINUING TO MOVE OVER THE STATE
FROM THE SOUTHWEST.  LATE THIS MORNING... CIRRUS CLOUD COVER OVER
NORTHEAST COLORADO WAS DECREASING WHICH WILL ALLOW FOR GOOD SOLAR
HEATING THROUGH THE EARLY AFTERNOON.  WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP OVER THE FOOTHILLS DURING THE
MID-AFTERNOON AND THEN SLOWLY MOVE OVER THE ADJACENT PLAINS. A WEAK
UPPER LEVEL WEATHER DISTURBANCE OVER SOUTHWESTERN COLORADO THIS
MORNING WAS CAUSING SCATTERED SHOWERS OVER THE SAN JUAN MOUNTAINS
AND FOUR CORNERS AREA.  THIS DISTURBANCE MAY REACH NORTHEAST
COLORADO THIS EVENING AND HELP MAINTAIN EVENING THUNDERSTORM
ACTIVITY.

WINDS ALOFT OVER NORTHEAST COLORADO ARE FAIRLY WEAK TODAY WHICH WILL
ALLOW ANY THUNDERSTORMS WHICH DEVELOP TO MOVE SLOWLY.  THEREFORE THE
MAIN THREAT FROM THE STORMS WILL BE PERIODS OF HEAVY RAINFALL.
LOCAL FLOODING MAY DEVELOP IF THUNDERSTORMS BEGIN PRODUCING HEAVY
RAINS.  THE AIRMASS CONTAINS ENOUGH MOISTURE AT MID AND UPPER LEVELS
TO LIMIT THE FORMATION OF ANY LARGE HAIL.

NO SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED AND SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE
NECESSARY.

DANKERS

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.