Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 20, NWS Goodland, KS

October 8, 1997Yuma County, Colorado

NWS Goodland, KS issued this tornado warning at Oct 8, 1997, 11:27 AM MDT for Yuma County, Colorado. It was in force for 33 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
Oct 8, 1997, 11:27 AM MDT (17:27 UTC)
Expired
Oct 8, 1997, 12:00 PM MDT
In force
33 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 17:31 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
Oct 8, 11:54 AM MDTTornado F0Wray, COBrief tornado moving southeast.
Oct 8, 11:54 AM MDTHail 0.75Wray, 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, 5.5 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.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 1997-10-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 2 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 12:00Z on 1997-10-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -102 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
2 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-82 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1246 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
85 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-102 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-42 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.

000 
TTAA00 KGLD 081729 RRA
TORGLD
COC125-081800-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
1127 AM MDT WED OCT 8 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN YUMA COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN COLORADO

* UNTIL 1200 PM MDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  KIRK                                    AROUND 1140 AM MDT

* AT 1126 AM MDT...A WEATHER SERVICE REPORTED A TORNADO 32 MILES
NORTHWEST   OF BURLINGTON OR 5 MILES NORTHWEST OF KIRK M&OVING EAST
AT 20 MPH.

A TORNADO HAS BEEN SIGHTED! GO TO THE BASEMENT! IF A BASEMENT IS NOT
AVAILABLE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR!

ENTWISTLE
 

&

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Oct 8, 11:44 AM MDTTornado WarningGLDKit Carson61 min
Oct 8, 11:56 AM MDTTornado WarningGLDYuma49 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Colorado, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes 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.