Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 47, NWS Goodland, KS

May 28, 1997Kit Carson County, Colorado

NWS Goodland, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 28, 1997, 6:35 PM MDT for Kit Carson 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
May 28, 1997, 6:35 PM MDT (00:35 UTC)
Expired
May 28, 1997, 7:40 PM MDT
In force
65 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 00:36 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 28, 6:50 PM MDTHail 0.75Vona, 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, 0.6 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 00:00Z on 1997-05-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 00:00Z on 1997-05-29The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -15 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
1 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-29 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2297 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-15 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
158 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.

638 
WUUS1 KGLD 290035 RRA
SVRGLD
COC063-290140-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
635 PM MDT WED MAY 28 1997

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

* UNTIL 740 PM MDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  VONA                                    AROUND 636 PM MDT
  9 MILES SOUTH OF VONA                   AROUND 655 PM MDT
  9 MILES SOUTH OF STRATTON               AROUND 705 PM MDT

* AT 633 PM MDT...GOODLAND DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 28 MILES WEST OF BURLINGTON OR 3 MILES WEST OF VONA
  MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 25 MPH.

LARGE HAIL IS LIKELY. GO INSIDE A STURDY BUILDING AND STAY AWAY FROM
WINDOWS

STAVISH/SKIPPER

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 28, 2:44 PM MDT, 3 hours 51 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 28, 2:44 PM MDT, 3 hours 51 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
244 PM MDT (344 PM CDT) WED MAY 28 1997

...FORECAST CHALLENGE IS THUNDERSTORM CHANCES THRU FRIDAY...

MID LVL SHORTWAVE ANALYZED AT 12Z OVR THE GRT BASIN INTO MONTANA TO
AFFECT PARTS OF GLD CWA THIS EVE INTO EARLY TONIGHT AS IT MOVES E.
CURRENT ADAPS AND RADAR INDICATING DESTABILIZATION AND TSTM DVLPMNT
OVR PALMER DIVIDE REGION THIS AFTN. MODELS SHOW MAIN BAND OF PCPN TO
OCCUR OVR FAR E COLORADO TO KANSAS BORDER THRU THIS EVE AND THEN
DROP SE. MID LVL LAPSE RATES THE GREATEST OVR FAR W PARTS OF FA AND
CANNOT RULE OUT HAIL REACHING SVR CRITERIA. THEREFORE...WILL MENTN
SOME SVR STORMS POSSIBLE...MAINLY FOR FAR E COLORADO ZONES.

NW FLOW ALFT WILL CONTINUE NXT FEW PERIODS WITH EMBEDDED SHORTWAVES
IN IT. AXIS OF INSTABILITY SHOWS UP OVR THE HI PLAINS BY THURS AFTN.
AFTER SOME LOW CLDS THURSDAY MORNING...EXPECT DAYTIME HEATING TO
DESTABILIZE AMS. SFC LOW LOOKS TO BE NEAR KS-OK BORDER ON THURSDAY
WITH BOUNDARY EXTENDING INTO S-CEN KS. THIS SHOULD PUT GLD CWA IN LGT
UPSLOP FLOW DURING THE DAY. AS A RESULT...TEMPS SHOULD NOT WARM UP
TOO RAPIDLY BUT NGM MOS LOOKS A BIT TOO COOL AT GLD.

HIEST CAPES ON THURSDAY FCST TO BE S OF CWA ALG WITH HIER DEWPOINTS.
ANY WIDESPREAD TSTM ACTIVITY S-SE OF CWA IN GREATEST INSTABILITY
AREA COULD CUT-OFF MSTR AND DECREASE CHCS OF TSTMS FURTHER N. MODELS
GENERALLY SHOWING GREATEST SFC-850 MSTR CONVERGENCE W AND S OF CWA
THRU THURSDAY NGT. HOWEVER...MORE SIGNIFICANT SHORTWAVE LOOKS TO BE
MOVING THRU CYCLONIC FLOW ALFT FOR THURSDAY NGT INTO FRIDAY. AS A
RESULT...HAVE OPTED TO KEEP IN SCT TSTMS DURING LATER PRDS WITH BEST
CHCS ACROSS FAR E COLORADO AND EXTREME W KANSAS.

GLD  045/070/049/076 444  HLC  046/073/050/076 233
CBK  046/071/049/077 344  MCK  045/071/050/075 233
TRB  046/071/048/077 545  ITR  044/071/048/075 545

KPL

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 28, 7:52 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDCheyenne33 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.