Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 22, NWS Goodland, KS

May 24, 1997Kit Carson County, Yuma County, Colorado

NWS Goodland, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 24, 1997, 5:23 PM MDT for Kit Carson County, Yuma County, Colorado. It was in force for 47 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
May 24, 1997, 5:23 PM MDT (23:23 UTC)
Expired
May 24, 1997, 6:10 PM MDT
In force
47 min
Issued by
NWS Goodland, KS
Area
Whole counties

Counties Kit Carson County, CO, Yuma County, CO

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 77 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:22 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
May 24, 5:53 PM MDTHail 1Hale Bonny Dam Arpt, 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, 11.4 hours before the alert went out and 66 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 1997-05-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 1997-05-24The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 16 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1596 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
16 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
27 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.

208 
WUUS1 KGLD 242325 RRA
SVRGLD
COC063-125-250010-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
523 PM MDT SAT MAY 24 1997

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  EXTREME NORTHEASTERN KIT CARSON COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL COLORADO
  EXTREME SOUTHEASTERN YUMA COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN COLORADO

* UNTIL 610 PM MDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  10 MILES NORTHEAST OF IDALIA            AROUND 550 PM MDT
  BEECHER ISLAND                          AROUND 606 PM MDT

* AT 523 PM MDT...GOODLAND DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 20 MILES SOUTHWEST OF SAINT FRANCIS OR 15 MILES SOUTH
  OF BEECHER ISLAND MOVING NORTH AT 15 MPH.

THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF LARGE HAIL. GO INSIDE A STURDY BUILDING
AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS

MARTELLO/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 May 24, 1:39 PM MDT, 3 hours 44 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 24, 1:39 PM MDT, 3 hours 44 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
139 PM MDT (239 PM CDT) SAT MAY 24 1997

...MAIN FCST CHALLENGE THIS CYCLE IS TIMING OF PCPN TONIGHT AND
TEMP PATTERN IN/OUT OF PCPN AND CLOUDS...

MODELS ALL SEEM TO BE IN AGREEMENT FOR A COOL...WET AND CLOUDY
HOLIDAY WEEKEND. TIMING OF FIRST S/W TONITE AND ITS LINGERING
EFFECTS ON SUNDAY IS CRUCIAL TO FIRST/SECOND PERIOD TEMPS. ONE OR
MORE TSRA CLUSTERS LOOK TO FIRE BETWEEN PUB/LAA/AKO AND FCL THIS
AFTERNOON AND MOVE EWD THROUGH EARLY SUNDAY MORNING ACROSS THIS
FORECAST AREA. A MCS COULD FORM BY THE LOOKS OF THE THKNS DIFFLUENCE
PATTERNS IN THE NGM/ETA AND SPREAD PCPN NEWD THROUGH 15Z SUNDAY.
HAVE UPPED POPS EVERYWHERE...SPCLY TONITE. NGM QPFS SHOW 1/4-1/2
INCH AT GLD AND GTE 1 INCH AT MCK AND HLC THROUGH 12Z. LIKE ETA
VERSION OF 062 GRAPHIC FOR 12HRS ENDING SUNDAY EVENING AND ZONE
BREAKDOWN OF FORECASTED TEMPS VS GUIDANCE TEMPS. I TRIED TO FOLLOW
94Q/98Q IN MY TEMP FORECAST FOR A SW-WARMER/NE-COOLER THROUGH MONDAY
MORNING IN THICK CLOUDS AND SCTD PCPN.

THOUGHTS ARE THAT NGM SWINGS SFC LOW TOO FAR NE AT 36HRS...06I WITH
AVN/ETA COMPROMISE LOOKING A LITTLE BETTER BY SUNDAY EVENING. Q-
VECTORS LOOK IMPRESSIVE OVER THE AREA BETWEEN 06Z AND 18Z SUNDAY SO
HELD ONTO PCPN CHANCES BUT THOUGHT ATMOSPHERE STABILIZES ENOUGH
OVERNIGHT FOR ONLY MAINLY SHOWERS...NOT TSRAS. BUT BY LATE SUNDAY
AFTERNOON...MAIN ENERGY BEGINS DROPPING OUT OF NRN CO/SRN WY AND
2ND ROUND OF TSRAS GET GOING. DRY SLOT/DRYLINE PER GRIDDS XSECTIONS
DO SHOW THIS DRIER AIR WORKING INTO A TRIANGLE WHOSE APEX EXTENDS NWD
ALONG CO/KS/NE TRISTATE BORDER AROUND WRAY COLO BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON.
BUT AGAIN...NGM IS PROBABLY A LITTLE TOO AGRESSIVE OF ALL THE GRIDDED
XSECTION FIELDS I LOOKED AT. IN MOVING SFC LOW INTO SERN NEBR/NERN KS
BY MONDAY MORNING...THE NGM DRIES ATMOSPHERE AND KEEPS POPS LOW.
THIS MAY NOT BE THE CASE AND THE NGM PROGGED FEATURES MAY NOT
EXHIBIT THE CHANCE FOR COOLER/WETTER WEATHER. AGAIN...THE ETA QPFS
WOULD BEG TO DIFFER. THIS FAR OUT IN THE PACKAGE THO... I DIDNT GO
HOG WILD WITH POPS AND CONSIDERABLY LOWER TEMPS MONDAY. THIS WILL
GIVE MID SHIFT A CHANCE TO TWEEK AS LATER RUNS COME IN FOR MAIN
MEMORIAL DAY FORECAST. BUT TRENDS CERTAINLY POINT TOWARDS LESS SUN
AND MORE MOISTURE. STAYED CLOSE TO HIGHS FOR TEMP GUIDANCE ALTHO I
AM NOT SURE HOW 70S WILL FAIR ACROSS THE AREA SUNDAY AND MONDAY IF
RAINFALL AND CLOUDS STICK AROUND.

GLD  053/070/048/072 8442   HLC  055/070/050/072 7543
CBK  056/070/049/071 8442   MCK  051/069/048/071 7543
TRB  051/071/049/076 5333   ITR  053/069/048/073 8442

VOJTESAK

The office that day

Everything else NWS Goodland, KS issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 24, 3:31 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDCheyenne49 min
May 24, 4:25 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDKit Carson, Yuma60 min
May 24, 4:32 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDCheyenne63 min
May 24, 5:31 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDCheyenne49 min
May 24, 5:54 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDYuma61 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.