Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 84, NWS Pueblo, CO

July 8, 1997Kiowa County, Colorado

NWS Pueblo, CO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 8, 1997, 9:46 PM MDT for Kiowa County, Colorado. It was in force for 44 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
Jul 8, 1997, 9:46 PM MDT (03:46 UTC)
Expired
Jul 8, 1997, 10:30 PM MDT
In force
44 min
Issued by
NWS Pueblo, CO
Area
Whole counties

County Kiowa County, CO

The radar

The Pueblo radar (KPUX), 126 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:48 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
Jul 8, 9:50 PM MDTHail 1Brandon, 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, 3.8 hours before the alert went out and 165 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 1997-07-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 6 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 1997-07-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 167 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
6 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-168 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3154 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
167 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
257 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 KPUB 090347 RRA
SVRPUB
COC061-090430-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
946 PM MDT TUE JUL 8 1997

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
  NORTHERN KIOWA COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN COLORADO

* UNTIL 1030 PM MDT
 
* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  OPEN COUNTRY OF NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST KIOWA COUNTY
  AND HIGHWAY 385 NORTH OF HIGHWAY 96 THROUGH 1030 PM

* AT 940 RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE STORM 11 MILES NORTHWEST OF SHERIDAN
  LAKE MOVING EAST AT 5 MPH.

AT THIS TIME...THE MOST LIKELY SEVERE WEATHER WITH THIS STORM IS
LARGE HAIL.

REMEMBER...SEVERE STORMS CAN PRODUCE TORNADOES WITH LITTLE WARNING.

IF YOU ARE NEAR THIS SEVERE STORM...GO TO SHELTER IMMEDIATELY.

PE

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 Pueblo, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jul 8, 2:27 PM MDT, 7 hours 19 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 8, 2:27 PM MDT, 7 hours 19 minutes before
SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST COLORADO AREA FORECAST
DISCUSSION...CORRECTION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
225 PM MDT TUE JUL 8 1997

CHALLENGE TONIGHT...THUNDERSTORM COVERAGE AND THUNDERSTORM THREATS.
MODELS SIMILAR...SHOWING PSEUDO-MONSOON PATTERN OVER COLORADO ATTM.
H5 HIGH OVER NORTH CENTRAL NEW MEXICO WITH H5 LOW SPINNING OVER
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.  BETWEEN THESE TWO FEATURES...WATER VAPOR PICTURES
SHOW A NICE STREAM MOISTURE SHOOTING NORTH ACROSS NEW MEXICO INTO
COLORADO.  OTHER FEATURES RESEMBLING MONSOON ARE LIGHT STEERING
WINDS AND WARM TEMPERATURES...SURFACE AND ALOFT.

15Z MESO ETA SHOWS RELATIVELY LITTLE CIN TO DEAL WITH TODAY...SO SEE NO
REASON WHY STORMS WON'T CONTINUE FIRING THIS EVENING AND SPREAD EAST
ACROSS THE PLAINS.  STORMS WORKING EAST OFF THE MOUNTAINS THIS AFTERNOON
SHOULD HAVE LITTLE PROBLEM PROPAGATING EAST TO KANSAS BY MIDNIGHT OR SO.
AS STORMS WORK EAST...THEY WILL MOVE INTO A PROGRESSIVELY HIGHER CAPE
ENVIRONMENT.  MESO ETA HAS CAPES INCREASING FROM AROUND 1800 J/KG COS
VICINITY TO AROUND 2600 J/KG NEAR THE KS BORDER.  CONSEQUENTLY...THE
POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE STORMS WILL INCREASE AS YOU HEAD EAST. ADDITIONALLY
...SOME THREAT FOR 3/4 INCH HAIL AT ELEVATIONS ABOVE 6K ALONG THE MTNS
THIS EVENING.  OTHER THREATS FROM STORMS THIS EVENING...FREQUENT
LIGHTNING...GUSTY WINDS AND LOCAL HEAVY DOWNPOURS.

TYPICAL IN A MONSOON PATTERN...SKIES WILL BE A LITTLE SLOWER THAN USUAL
AT CLEARING TONIGHT.  LIGHT STEERING WINDS ALOFT WILL HAVE TROUBLE
DISPERSING CONVECTIVE DEBRIS.

LW

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 8, 9:06 PM MDT, 40 minutes before
COZ078-090355-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
906 PM MDT TUE JUL 8 1997

...STRONG STORMS MOVING THROUGH KIOWA COUNTY...

STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING THROUGH KIOWA COUNTY AT 900 PM.
THE STORMS EXTENDED FROM ABOUT 7 MILES NORTH-NORTHEAST OF EADS TO 7
MILES EAST OF EADS.  THESE STORMS WERE MOVING EAST AT 10 MPH AND
WERE LIKELY PRODUCING HEAVY RAIN...GUSTY WINDS AND HAIL UP TO 1/2
INCH IN DIAMETER.  IF YOU LIVE ALONG HIGHWAY 96 EAST OF EADS OR IF
YOU LIVE NORTH OF HIGHWAY 96 AND EAST OF HIGHWAY 287 BE PREPARED FOR
THESE THUNDERSTORMS TO MOVE THROUGH YOUR AREA.
Special weather statement, Jul 8, 9:07 PM MDT, 39 minutes before
COZ078-090355-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
906 PM MDT TUE JUL 8 1997

...STRONG STORMS MOVING THROUGH KIOWA COUNTY...

STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WERE MOVING THROUGH KIOWA COUNTY AT 900 PM.
THE STORMS EXTENDED FROM ABOUT 7 MILES NORTH-NORTHEAST OF EADS TO 7
MILES EAST OF EADS.  THESE STORMS WERE MOVING EAST AT 10 MPH AND
WERE LIKELY PRODUCING HEAVY RAIN...GUSTY WINDS AND HAIL UP TO 1/2
INCH IN DIAMETER.  IF YOU LIVE ALONG HIGHWAY 96 EAST OF EADS OR IF
YOU LIVE NORTH OF HIGHWAY 96 AND EAST OF HIGHWAY 287 BE PREPARED FOR
THESE THUNDERSTORMS TO MOVE THROUGH YOUR AREA.

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.