Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Watches in 1997

Tornado Watch 472

June 18, 199714 counties in Colorado; 11 counties in Nebraska; Goshen County, Laramie County, Wyoming

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jun 18, 1997, 3:15 PM MDT for 14 counties in Colorado; 11 counties in Nebraska; Goshen County, Laramie County, Wyoming. It was in force for 6 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jun 18, 1997, 3:15 PM MDT (21:15 UTC)
Expired: Jun 18, 1997, 9:00 PM MDT
In force: 6 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

All 27 counties

Adams County, CO, Arapahoe County, CO, Cheyenne County, CO, El Paso County, CO, Elbert County, CO, Kit Carson County, CO, Lincoln County, CO, Logan County, CO, Morgan County, CO, Phillips County, CO, Sedgwick County, CO, Washington County, CO, Weld County, CO, Yuma County, CO, Banner County, NE, Box Butte County, NE, Cheyenne County, NE, Dawes County, NE, Deuel County, NE, Garden County, NE, Kimball County, NE, Morrill County, NE, Scotts Bluff County, NE, Sheridan County, NE, Sioux County, NE, Goshen County, WY, Laramie County, WY

The radar

The Denver radar (KFTG), 105 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:15 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.

Warnings issued inside it

5 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 18, 3:45 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CYS	Laramie	30 min
Jun 18, 4:03 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Weld	27 min
Jun 18, 4:30 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	El Paso	60 min
Jun 18, 4:41 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Logan, Weld	34 min
Jun 18, 4:49 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Adams, Arapahoe, Denver	41 min

The nearest sounding before it

Denver, CO (KDNR), launched 12:00Z, 9.3 hours before the alert went out and 66 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: 2353 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 86 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 100 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.

511 
WWUS9 KMKC 182041
SEL2  
MKC WW 182041
COZ000-WYZ000-NEZ000-190300-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 472
STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
241 PM MDT WED JUN 18 1997

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

   EASTERN COLORADO                           
   SOUTHEAST WYOMING                            
   WESTERN NEBRASKA                           

EFFECTIVE THIS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 315 PM UNTIL
900 PM MDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 70 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 45 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF LIMON COLORADO TO 15
MILES NORTHWEST OF CHADRON NEBRASKA.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. 
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...  CONTINUE...WW 468...WW 469...WW
470...WW 471...

DISCUSSION...THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED TO INCREASE IN
COVERAGE/INTENSITY AS HEATING CONTINUES IN AREA OF STRENGTHENING 
VERTICAL SHEAR DOWNSTREAM FROM NORTHERN GREAT BASIN SPEED MAX.  

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES.  EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 70 KNOTS.  A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500. 
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 27025.


...CORFIDI

383,1043 425,1044 425,1015 383,1020

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 18, 3:30 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Arthur, Blaine, Brown, Chase, Cherry, Custer and 21 more	6 hr
Jun 18, 4:45 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	Big Horn, Park, Sheridan	5 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Colorado, 1997 Tornado Watches in Nebraska, 1997 Tornado Watches in Wyoming, 1997 Every tornado watch 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.