Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 45, NWS Goodland, KS

May 27, 1997Kit Carson County, Colorado

NWS Goodland, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 27, 1997, 4:49 PM MDT for Kit Carson County, Colorado. It was in force for 66 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 27, 1997, 4:49 PM MDT (22:49 UTC)
Expired
May 27, 1997, 5:55 PM MDT
In force
66 min
Issued by
NWS Goodland, KS
Area
Whole counties

County Kit Carson County, CO

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 78 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:50 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 27, 5:00 PM MDTHail 1Vona, 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, 10.8 hours before the alert went out and 83 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 1997-05-27Temperature 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 1997-05-27The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 72 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1923 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
72 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
89 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.

507 
WUUS1 KGLD 272248 RRA
SVRGLD
COC063-272355-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
449 PM MDT TUE MAY 27 1997

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  CENTRAL KIT CARSON COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL COLORADO

* UNTIL 555 PM MDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  8 MILES NORTH OF BETHUNE                AROUND 515 PM MDT
  BETHUNE                                 AROUND 525 PM MDT
  HWY 385...9 MILES NORTH OF BURLINGTON   AROUND 535 PM MDT
  BURLINGTON                              AROUND 545 PM MDT

* AT 448 PM MDT...GOODLAND DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 22 MILES NORTHWEST OF BURLINGTON OR 16 MILES NORTHWEST
  OF BETHUNE MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM STAY INDOORS AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

BARKER

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 27, 2:09 PM MDT, 2 hours 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 27, 2:09 PM MDT, 2 hours 40 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
209 PM MDT (309 PM CDT) TUE MAY 27 1997

...FORECAST CHALLENGE TO BE PRECIP AND TEMPS THRU THE PCKG...

...SHORT TM...
LIGHT N FLOW AT THE SFC SHOULD LET UP TONIGHT AND THEN BECOME SE BY
MORNING AS TROF OVER FRONT RANGE EASES EAST TOWARDS KS/CO BORDER BY
12Z. THIS SHOULD KILL WINDS AND WITH ABUNDANT LOW LEVEL MOISTURE
AROUND...EXPECT SOME FOG TO DEVELOP. WITH THE LIGHT SFC FLOW...EXPECT
LOWS TO FALL AROUND DEW PT VALUES.

ALL MODELS IN FAIR AGREEMENT ON UPPER AIR PATTERN BUT TIMING OF NEXT
IMPULSE IN NW FLOW IS QUESTIONABLE. WILL LEAN TOWARDS NGM WITH ITS
BETTER INITIALIZATION OF SFC FEATURES AND 850 TEMPS. A WEAK S/W TO
SPIN OFF OF STUBBORN SYSTEM IN NEBRASKA WITH BEST CHANCE FOR SHOWERS
TONIGHT OVER THE WEST HALF OF THE CWA.

...LONG TM...
S/W TO CONT MOVING SLOWLY ACROSS CWA THROUGH THE DAY. MOST ENERGY
SEEMS TO BE COMING FROM 700 MB WITH SOME WEAK LIFT FROM WEAK JET
NOSING IN. THIS MESHES WELL WITH 700-500 QG CONVERGENCE PROGS AND
700 VVS WHICH MOVE INSTABILITY SLOWLY ACROSS THE AREA THROUGH 00Z
THURS. WITH INVERTED TROF AROUND FROM SFC SYSTEM TO THE SOUTH AND
PVA...ENUF LIFT SHOULD RESULT IN CHANCE FOR SHOWERS WITH SOME BREAKS
IN CLOUDS HELPING TO DESTABLIZE THINGS A BIT. SHOWERS LOOK BETTER
THAN T-STORMS WITH LOW LEVELS BEING STABLE FROM TODAY. PRECIP SHOULD
TREND FROM WEST TO EAST AS THE SECOND PD PROGREES. THEN PRECIP
CHANCES INCREASE AGAIN DURING THE THIRD PD AS COLD FRONT APPROACHES.

WILL KEEP CHC FOR SHOWERS ALL AREAS THIRD PD WITH FRONT HELPING TO
INDUCE SOME LIFT. WITH FRONT LAGGING ACROSS THE SE PART OF CWA...WILL
KEEP SLGT CHANCE MENTION THERE FOURTH PD. WILL GO ABOUT A HALF CAT OR
SO LOWER ON HIGHS THURS FROM WED DUE TO SOME FALLING TCKNS NOTED AND
SFC FLO COMING FROM MORE A NELY DIRECTION. WILL FOLLOW FWC FOR THE
FIRST 36 HRS BUT THEN LEAN MORE TOWARDS THE FAN FOURTH PD WITH
CLOUDS AND WEAK UPSLOPE COMPONENT AROUND.

GLD  045/068/048/067 443  HLC  048/070/050/068 -44
CBK  046/069/048/066 443  MCK  046/067/048/066 153
TRB  044/071/046/068 443  ITR  043/067/046/068 432

MARTELLO

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 27, 4:40 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDYuma50 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.