Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 7, NWS Pueblo, CO

October 11, 1997Bent County, Otero County, Colorado

NWS Pueblo, CO issued this tornado warning at Oct 11, 1997, 7:05 PM MDT for Bent County, Otero County, Colorado. It was in force for 45 min. 3 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 11, 1997, 7:05 PM MDT (01:05 UTC)
Expired: Oct 11, 1997, 7:50 PM MDT
In force: 45 min
Issued by: NWS Pueblo, CO
Area: Whole counties

Counties Bent County, CO, Otero County, CO

The radar

The Pueblo radar (KPUX), 91 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:04 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

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Oct 11, 7:05 PM MDT	Hail 2	Las Animas, CO
Oct 11, 7:10 PM MDT	Tornado F0	Cheraw, CO	The same supercell thunderstorm that brought large hail to the La Junta area, generated a brief tornado in a rural area of northeast Otero county. It broke off a power pole and caused no other known damage.
Oct 11, 7:10 PM MDT	Tornado F1	Las Animas, 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Oct 11, 5:00 PM MDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Denver, CO (KDNR), launched 00:00Z, 1.1 hours before the alert went out and 216 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 2617 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 56 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 120 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 68 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.

806 
WFUS1 KPUB 120115
TORPUB
COC011-099-120150-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
705 PM MDT SAT OCT 11 1997

* TORNADO WARNING FOR
  WESTERN BENT COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN COLORADO
  NORTHEASTERN OTERO COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN COLORADO

* UNTIL 750 PM MDT

* SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED
  ALONG HIGHWAY 50 AND HIGHWAY 194 IN OTERO COUNTY THROUGH 715 PM
  OVER OPEN COUNTRY NORTH OF HIGHWAY 50 AND HIGHWAY 194 IN BENT
  COUNTY THROUGH 730 PM
  VICINITY OF LAS ANIMAS COUNTY THROUGH 720 PM

* AT 704 PM RADAR SHOWED A DEVELOPING TORNADO 5 MILES EAST OF LA
  JUNTA MOVING NORTH NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.

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

SC

The office that day

Everything else NWS Pueblo, CO issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Oct 11, 6:19 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	Otero	46 min
Oct 11, 6:25 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	Huerfano	50 min
Oct 11, 7:00 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	Bent, Otero	45 min
Oct 11, 7:05 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	PUB	Prowers	45 min
Oct 11, 7:28 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	PUB	Kiowa	47 min
Oct 11, 7:31 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	Pueblo	49 min
Oct 11, 7:44 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	Huerfano	46 min
Oct 11, 7:59 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	PUB	Las Animas	46 min
Oct 11, 8:06 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	Pueblo	19 min
Oct 11, 8:38 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	Otero	47 min
Oct 11, 8:52 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	PUB	Las Animas, Otero	58 min
Oct 11, 9:03 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	PUB	Crowley	47 min
Oct 11, 9:12 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	PUB	Bent	43 min
Oct 11, 9:53 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	Bent, Otero	47 min
Oct 11, 10:18 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	Kiowa	47 min
Oct 11, 10:40 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	PUB	Bent	50 min
Oct 11, 11:31 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	Las Animas	49 min

Nearby

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