Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 11, NWS Goodland, KS
NWS Goodland, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 18, 1997, 3:19 PM MDT for Cheyenne County, Colorado. It was in force for 61 min. 2 reports 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
- May 18, 1997, 3:19 PM MDT (21:19 UTC)
- Expired
- May 18, 1997, 4:20 PM MDT
- In force
- 61 min
- Issued by
- NWS Goodland, KS
- Area
- Whole counties
County Cheyenne County, CO
The radar
The Goodland radar (KGLD), 98 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:18 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 18, 4:15 PM MDT | Hail 0.75 | Kit Carson, CO | |
| May 18, 4:20 PM MDT | Hail 0.75 | Kit Carson, 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, 9.3 hours before the alert went out and 128 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.
737 WUUS1 KGLD 182121 RRA SVRGLD COC017-182220- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 319 PM MDT SUN MAY 18 1997 * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR WEST CENTRAL CHEYENNE COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL COLORADO * UNTIL 420 PM MDT * SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED AROYA AROUND 320 PM MDT WILD HORSE AROUND 330 PM MDT KIT CARSON AROUND 400 PM MDT * AT 317 PM MDT...GOODLAND DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 34 MILES SOUTHEAST OF LIMON OR 7 MILES WEST OF AROYA MOVING EAST AT 30 MPH. THIS STORM IS CAPABLE OF HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF A HALF DOLLAR AND FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM STAY INDOORS AWAY FROM WINDOWS. ENTWISTLE
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.
NWS Goodland, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 18, 2:26 PM MDT, 53 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 18, 2:26 PM MDT, 53 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 226 PM MDT (326 PM CDT) SUN MAY 18 1997 ...MAIN FCST CHALLENGE IS TIMING OF FRONT AND CHCS FOR PCPN... .UPR AIR... RELATIVELY HIGH ZONAL FLOW WILL CONTINUE OVER THE AREA THE NEXT 2 DAYS. THE MAIN ENERGY WITH THE SHORTWAVE THIS MORNING WAS OVER THE NORTHCENTRAL STATES AS EVIDENCE OF HEIGHT FALLS GREATER THAN 70 METERS AT 500 MB EXTENDING FROM ERN MT TO WRN ND. MAIN ENERGY WITH THIS SYS IS EXPECTED TO SWEEP NORTH OF THE CWA...OVER THE NORTHERN STATES. .SFC... COLD FRONT BEARING DOWN ON THE AREA FROM SOUTHEASTERN WY AND THE NEBRASKA PANHANDLE. LOOKS LIKE FROPA AT BFF WAS BETWEEN 17Z AND 18Z. CALCULATIONS SHOW FRONTS SPEED ABOUT 20 KTS OVER THE PAST 10 HRS. EXPECT AN ACCELERATION OF THE FRONT BY THIS EVENING AND STRONG NORTH WINDS DEVELOP ON THE BACKSIDE OF THE LOW. THE FRONT SHOULD ENTER THE NORTHERN PORTION OF THE CWA AROUND 00Z AND SHOULD CLEAR GREELEY AND WICHITA COUNTIES BY 06Z. .MODEL CHOICE... WILL GO WITH ETA AS THE MODEL OF CHOICE WITH SOME MODIFICATIONS. LIKED THE PLACEMENT AND THE ACCELERATION OF THE FRONT OF THE ETA OVER THE NGM. NGM HAS SFC WINDS OF ONLY AROUND 10 KTS AT MIDNIGHT. BELIEVE WINDS WILL BE IN THE BREEZY CATEGORY FOR THE MOST PART...BUT WOULD NOT BE SURPRISED TO SEE WINDY CONDITIONS FOR AN HOUR OR 2 AFTER FROPA. FOUM68 MODEL OUTPUT DATA SHOWS NGM WITH SOMEWHAT WEAKER WINDS AT DDC AFTER FROPA. CONSIDERING THE NGM WIND SPEEDS ARE USUALLY TO LOW WITH THIS TYPE OF PATTERN...WILL BUMP WINDS UP SOMEWHAT FROM GUIDENCE. .TEMPS... MADE SOME MODIFICATIONS TO NGM GUIDENCE. BUMPED DOWN TEMPS TONIGHT AT HLC. BELIEVE FRONT WILL BE STRONG AND FAST ENOUGH FOR THE COOLER AIR TO REACH THE EASTERN CWA BEFORE 12Z. FOR MONDAY...ADJUSTED TEMPS TO MATCH THICKNESS PATTERN...LOWERED ERN ZONES AND RAISED WESTERN ZONES FROM GUIDENCE. FOR THE DAY TUESDAY...WENT ABOVE GUIDENCE TUESDAY OVER THE WESTERN AREAS. EXPECT TEMPERATURES TO RECOVER TO NEAR NORMAL BY TUESDAY WITH GOOD SOUTHERLY FLOW. AVN 60 HOUR THICKNESS FCST SHOWS VALUES AROUND 5730 METERS. .PCPN... BELIEVE THE ETA OVER DOES THE PCPN OVER THE NORTHERN AREAS...BUT LOOKS REASONABLE ELSEWHERE. CLUSTER OF TSTMS APCHG ERN COLORADO. STRONG COLD FRONT WITH MARGINAL SFC MOISTURE AHEAD OF THE FRONT SHOULD PROVIDE ENOUGH LIFT FOR THE STORMS TO SUSTAIN THEMSELVES THIS EVENING. EXPECT OVERALL RAINFALL AMOUNTS TO BE RATHER LIGHT CONSIDERING THE FAST SPEED OF THE FRONT...LIMITATIONS OF SIGNIFICANT AND DEEP MOISTURE OVER THE AREA AND THE LACK OF STRONG DYNAMICS. GLD 043/064/043/077 7-0 HLC 047/065/041/075 810 CBK 044/064/044/076 7-0 ITR 042/066/043/078 7-0 TRB 046/068/044/078 81- MCK 044/064/041/075 7-0 SKIPPER
In the hours before
Special weather statement, May 18, 10:26 AM MDT, 4 hours 53 minutes before
COZ090>092-KSZ001>004-013>016-027>029-041-042-NEZ079>081-190600- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 1026 AM MDT SUN MAY 18 1997 THIS OUTLOOK PERTAINS TO THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES CHEYENNE CO CHEYENNE KS DECATUR KS DUNDY NE GOVE KS GRAHAM KS GREELEY KS HITCHCOCK NE KIT CARSON CO LOGAN KS NORTON KS RAWLINS KS RED WILLOW NE SHERIDAN KS SHERMAN KS THOMAS KS WALLACE KS WICHITA KS YUMA CO SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. SYNOPSIS... A COLD FRONT WILL PUSH THROUGH THE AREA BEGINNING LATE THIS AFTERNOON...REACHING YUMA COUNTY COLORADO AND EXTREME SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA BY 6 PM MDT (7 PM CDT). THIS FRONT IS EXPECTED MOVE SOUTH AND EAST OF A HILL CITY TO LEOTI TO TRIBUNE LINE BY MIDNIGHT. THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED ALONG AND BEHIND THIS FRONT AS IT PUSHES INTO THE AREA...WITH ACTIVITY DECREASING RAPIDLY AFTER 9 PM MDT (10 PM CDT). THIS ACTIVITY IS NOT EXPECTED TO BE SEVERE...ALTHOUGH BRIEF WIND GUSTS TO 45 MPH AND HAIL UP TO 1/2 INCH CAN BE ANTICIPATED WITH THE STRONGER LATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING STORMS. ENTWISTLE
Special weather statement, May 18, 10:27 AM MDT, 4 hours 52 minutes before
COZ090>092-KSZ001>004-013>016-027>029-041-042-NEZ079>081-190600- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 1026 AM MDT SUN MAY 18 1997 THIS OUTLOOK PERTAINS TO THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES CHEYENNE CO CHEYENNE KS DECATUR KS DUNDY NE GOVE KS GRAHAM KS GREELEY KS HITCHCOCK NE KIT CARSON CO LOGAN KS NORTON KS RAWLINS KS RED WILLOW NE SHERIDAN KS SHERMAN KS THOMAS KS WALLACE KS WICHITA KS YUMA CO SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. SYNOPSIS... A COLD FRONT WILL PUSH THROUGH THE AREA BEGINNING LATE THIS AFTERNOON...REACHING YUMA COUNTY COLORADO AND EXTREME SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA BY 6 PM MDT (7 PM CDT). THIS FRONT IS EXPECTED MOVE SOUTH AND EAST OF A HILL CITY TO LEOTI TO TRIBUNE LINE BY MIDNIGHT. THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED ALONG AND BEHIND THIS FRONT AS IT PUSHES INTO THE AREA...WITH ACTIVITY DECREASING RAPIDLY AFTER 9 PM MDT (10 PM CDT). THIS ACTIVITY IS NOT EXPECTED TO BE SEVERE...ALTHOUGH BRIEF WIND GUSTS TO 45 MPH AND HAIL UP TO 1/2 INCH CAN BE ANTICIPATED WITH THE STRONGER LATE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING STORMS. ENTWISTLE
The office that day
Everything else NWS Goodland, KS issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 18, 4:17 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD | Cheyenne | 48 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.