Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 201, NWS Goodland, KS
NWS Goodland, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 26, 1997, 8:45 PM MDT for Yuma County, Colorado. It was in force for 65 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
- Aug 26, 1997, 8:45 PM MDT (02:45 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 26, 1997, 9:50 PM MDT
- In force
- 65 min
- Issued by
- NWS Goodland, KS
- Area
- Whole counties
County Yuma County, CO
The radar
The Goodland radar (KGLD), 94 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:49 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 26, 8:50 PM MDT | Hail 0.88 | Yuma, 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 00:00Z, 2.8 hours before the alert went out and 70 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
- 238 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -130 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2064 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 23 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 20 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 87 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.1
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KGLD 270245 RRA SVRGLD COC125-270350- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 845 PM MDT TUE AUG 26 1997 * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR WEST CENTRAL YUMA COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN COLORADO * UNTIL 950 PM MDT * SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED 14 MILES SOUTHEAST OF YUMA AROUND 855 PM MDT ECKLEY AROUND 920 PM MDT VERNON AROUND 930 PM MDT WRAY AROUND 950 PM MDT * AT 847 PM MDT...GOODLAND DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 24 MILES WEST OF WRAY OR 13 MILES SOUTHWEST OF ECKLEY MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM! STAY INDOORS AWAY FROM WINDOWS. GONSOWSKI/STAVISH
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 Aug 26, 2:00 PM MDT, 6 hours 45 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 26, 2:00 PM MDT, 6 hours 45 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 200 PM MDT (300 PM CDT) TUE AUG 26 1997 ...POPS AND TEMPS COULD BE THE CHALLENGE THIS PACKAGE... SEVERAL THINGS BECAME APPARENT IN INITIALIZED H5 HEIGHTS AND ETA/NGM DIFFERENCES WITH THE H5 VORT MAX THIS MORNING. THE ETA NUDGED THE 588 HEIGHT NNWD INTO ERN MT BY 00Z...IN EFFECT LIFTING THE H5 VORT MAX NEWD INTO NC NEB...BEFORE SHIFTING IT EWD INTO WRN IA BY 24 HRS. ON THE OTHER HAND...THE NGM MOVED THE H588 AND H594 RIDGE LINE EAST. GIVEN THAT THE H5 VORT LOOKED TO BE WSWD BY 50-100 MILES OF BOTH MODELS 12Z INITIALIZATION...THE WATER VAPOR LOOP SHOWS THE APEX OF THE 594 HEIGHT RIDGE AXIS ERODING RAPIDLY. THOUGHT THE NGM WAS GOING TO BE A LITTLE TOO FAST WITH ITS 00Z MCS POSITION. LIKEWISE...THE ETA IS WEAKER AND SLIGHTLY TOO FAR NORTH. CROSS SECTIONS AT 40 N 102W....NEAR WRAY COLO...SHOW A 06Z TIMING. THIS LOOKS PERFECT. MY GUESS IS THAT THERE WILL BE TWO SHORTWAVES PRESENT. THE FIRST EJECTING NEWD ACRS NEB PANHANDLE WITH A SECOND AND STRONGER WAVE PASSING NEAR THE LLJ AND EXPLODING AROUND MIDNIGHT WITH THE WEAKEST CAP ALOFT. USING CO ZN 90 AS A STARTING POINT FOR POPS OVERNIGHT AND SPREAD 30 POPS IN A RADIUS OF ABOUT 75 MILES E THRU S. GIVEN THE INCREASE IN LOW LEVEL FLOW...THE 15Z RUC HINTED AT LLJ IN THE 30KT RANGE DEVELOPING OVERNITE. ETA SHOWS DECENT QG FORCING BETWEEN H7/H5... THEREFORE RAPIDLY DESTABILIZING THE LOWER LAYERS OVERNIGHT...BUT THOUGHT 30 POPS NW OF A MCK/GLD TO FLAGLER LINE SEEM REASONABLE AS H594 CONTOUR ERODES AND ENDS UP OVER SW KS/SE COLO AREA OVERNIGHT. QUESTION WILL BE WHETHER OR NOT OUTFLOW BOUNDARY FROM STORMS IN EXTREME NE CO AND SE WYO WILL BE ABLE TO DRIFT SEWD AND COME IN CONTACT WITH NOSE OF LLJ. IF SO HLC AND TRB AREAS WHERE LTL OR NO PCPN IS FORECASTED WILL BE RUDELY WAKENED AROUND SUNRISE. I BELIEVE THIS IS A REMOTE POSSIBILITY AND WILL KEEP HLC AND TRB PC AND WARMER OVERNITE W/O RAINFALL. OTHERWISE...REST OF FORECAST LOOKS TO BE WARM AND DRY WITH PERIODS OF CLOUDS SPILLING ATOP THE RIDGE AXIS. THE NGM HAS 90RHS THROUGH MUCH OF THE DAY ON WED WITH THE ETA MUCH DRIER ALOFT. AGAIN I WILL COMPROMISE THEIR SOLUTIONS AND GO WITH PTLY SUNNY AND A TAD COOLER THAN MOS TEMPS. AT HLC AND TRB...NO RAINFALL MEANS NO CHANGE TO THE FORECAST AND WILL MAINTAIN A 90 TO 95 TEMP REGIME WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY. .GLD...NONE VOJTESAK
The office that day
Everything else NWS Goodland, KS issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 26, 7:42 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD | Yuma | 63 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.