Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 52, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO

May 24, 1998Elbert County, Colorado

NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 24, 1998, 10:16 AM MDT for Elbert County, Colorado. It was in force for 44 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: May 24, 1998, 10:16 AM MDT (16:16 UTC)
Expired: May 24, 1998, 11:00 AM MDT
In force: 44 min
Issued by: NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Elbert County, CO

The radar

The Denver radar (KFTG), 91 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 16:17 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
May 24, 10:20 AM MDT	Hail 1.75	Limon, CO	Large hail was piled up 6 inches deep in spots.
May 24, 11:05 AM MDT	Hail 0.75	Agate, 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, 4.3 hours before the alert went out and 55 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: 1490 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 14 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 47 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.

980 
WUUS1 KDEN 241615 RRA
SVRDEN
COC039-073-121-241700-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
1016 AM MDT SUN MAY 24 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
     NORTHEASTERN ELBERT COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL COLORADO
     NORTHEASTERN LINCOLN COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL COLORADO
     SOUTHWESTERN WASHINGTON COUNTY IN NORTHEAST COLORADO

* UNTIL 1100 AM MDT

* AT 1015 AM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 10 MILES NORTH OF LIMON...MOVING EAST AT 25
  MILES PER HOUR.

* LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE...LIMON AND THURMAN

VERY LARGE HAIL IS POSSIBLE WITH THIS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM. IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF THE STORM...PUT YOUR CAR IN A GARAGE AND MOVE TO A
SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER.

HEAVY RAINS MAY FLOOD LOW LYING AREAS SUCH AS DITCHES AND 
UNDERPASSES.  AVOID THESE AREAS AND DO NOT CROSS FLOODED ROADS AS 
THEY MAY BE WASHED OUT. WATER LEVELS OF SMALL STREAMS AND RIVERS MAY 
ALSO RISE...THEREFORE SEEK HIGHER GROUND IF THREATENED BY FLOOD 
WATERS.

LAT...LON 3936 10396 3923 10381 3935 10349 3937 10332
          3942 10316 3964 10316 3967 10346 3962 10366
          3951 10380

RJK

The office that day

Everything else NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 24, 10:16 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Lincoln, Washington	44 min
May 24, 10:59 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Elbert, Lincoln	46 min
May 24, 10:59 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Washington	46 min
May 24, 1:03 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert	42 min
May 24, 1:34 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Arapahoe	26 min
May 24, 1:55 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Adams	35 min
May 24, 2:16 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Elbert	49 min
May 24, 2:37 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Weld	38 min
May 24, 3:07 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Elbert, Lincoln	38 min
May 24, 3:15 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Lincoln	30 min
May 24, 3:44 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Lincoln	31 min
May 24, 4:18 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Lincoln	27 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Colorado, 1998 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1998

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.