Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 2, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 18, 1997, 2:51 PM MDT for Lincoln 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
- May 18, 1997, 2:51 PM MDT (20:51 UTC)
- Expired
- May 18, 1997, 3:30 PM MDT
- In force
- 39 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), 86 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:54 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, 8.9 hours before the alert went out and 111 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2500 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 27 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 94 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 127 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
470
WUUS1 KDEN 182054 RRA
SVRDEN
COC073-182130-
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
251 PM MDT SUN MAY 18 1997
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 330 PM MDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE
FOLLOWING COUNTIES...
IN EAST CENTRAL COLORADO
CENTRAL LINCOLN
INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS
BOYERO
AT 245 PM MDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 14 MILES WEST OF BOYERO...OR ABOUT 23 MILES SOUTH
OF LIMON.
THE STORM WAS MOVING EAST AT 25 MILES PER HOUR...AND WILL MOVE TO
NEAR BOYERO BY 310 PM.
IF SEVERE WEATHER APPROACHES YOUR AREA...GO INSIDE A STURDY SHELTER
AWAY FROM CREEK BEDS AND OTHER FLOOD-PRONE AREAS. REMEMBER...A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM CAN PRODUCE LARGE DAMAGING HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS OVER 60
MPH...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. THEY
WILL RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST
OFFICE IN DENVER.
GIMMESTAD
LAT...LON 3894 10317 3874 10318 3874 10338 3886 10365
3904 10355What 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, May 18, 11:01 AM MDT, 3 hours 50 minutes before
COZ030-032>050-190600- SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO 1101 AM MDT SUN MAY 18 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: A WEAK COLD FRONT HAS MOVED INTO NORTHEAST COLORADO THIS MORNING AND ALLOWED FOR NORTH TO NORTHEAST LOW LEVEL WINDS TO DEVELOP. A SECONDARY COLD FRONT EXTENDED FROM EAST CENTRAL WYOMING INTO THE NEBRASKA PANHANDLE AND WILL BE NEAR THE COLORADO-NEBRASKA BORDER BY LATE AFTERNOON. WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP ALONG THIS SECONDARY COLD FRONT BY LATE AFTERNOON OVER THE NORTHEAST PLAINS. MEANWHILE NEAR THE FRONT RANGE WEAK UPSLOPE FLOW WILL ALLOW FOR WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP ALONG THE FOOTHILLS AND PALMER DIVIDE BY 2 PM. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL THEN MOVE SOUTHEAST INTO PORTIONS OF THE URBAN CORRIDOR AFTER 3 PM. ALTHOUGH CONDITIONS ARE NOT FAVORABLE FOR A SIGNIFICANT OUTBREAK OF SEVERE WEATHER ENOUGH VERTICAL SHEAR EXISTS IN THE ATMOSPHERE FOR A FEW STORMS TO POSSIBLY BECOME SEVERE LATER THIS AFTERNOON INTO THE EARLY EVENING HOURS WEST OF A LINE FROM FORT MORGAN TO LIMON. THE MAIN THREAT FROM THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WOULD BE HAIL TO 1 IN DIAMETER AND WIND GUSTS TO 60 MPH. IN ADDITION A FEW WEAK SHORTLIVED TORNADOES MAY SPIN UP NEAR BOUNDARY INTERACTIONS. ACTIVATION OF THE SKYWARN STORM SPOTTER NETWORK MAY BE REQUIRED LATER THIS AFTERNOON ESPECIALLY WEST OF A FORT MORGAN TO LIMON LINE. RPK
Special weather statement, May 18, 11:05 AM MDT, 3 hours 46 minutes before
COZ030-032>050-190600- SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO 1101 AM MDT SUN MAY 18 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: A WEAK COLD FRONT HAS MOVED INTO NORTHEAST COLORADO THIS MORNING AND ALLOWED FOR NORTH TO NORTHEAST LOW LEVEL WINDS TO DEVELOP. A SECONDARY COLD FRONT EXTENDED FROM EAST CENTRAL WYOMING INTO THE NEBRASKA PANHANDLE AND WILL BE NEAR THE COLORADO-NEBRASKA BORDER BY LATE AFTERNOON. WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP ALONG THIS SECONDARY COLD FRONT BY LATE AFTERNOON OVER THE NORTHEAST PLAINS. MEANWHILE NEAR THE FRONT RANGE WEAK UPSLOPE FLOW WILL ALLOW FOR WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP ALONG THE FOOTHILLS AND PALMER DIVIDE BY 2 PM. THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL THEN MOVE SOUTHEAST INTO PORTIONS OF THE URBAN CORRIDOR AFTER 3 PM. ALTHOUGH CONDITIONS ARE NOT FAVORABLE FOR A SIGNIFICANT OUTBREAK OF SEVERE WEATHER ENOUGH VERTICAL SHEAR EXISTS IN THE ATMOSPHERE FOR A FEW STORMS TO POSSIBLY BECOME SEVERE LATER THIS AFTERNOON INTO THE EARLY EVENING HOURS WEST OF A LINE FROM FORT MORGAN TO LIMON. THE MAIN THREAT FROM THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WOULD BE HAIL TO 1" IN DIAMETER AND WIND GUSTS TO 60 MPH. IN ADDITION A FEW WEAK SHORTLIVED TORNADOES MAY SPIN UP NEAR BOUNDARY INTERACTIONS. ACTIVATION OF THE SKYWARN STORM SPOTTER NETWORK MAY BE REQUIRED LATER THIS AFTERNOON ESPECIALLY WEST OF A FORT MORGAN TO LIMON LINE. RPK
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.