Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 90, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO

June 21, 1998Adams County, Arapahoe County, Colorado

NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jun 21, 1998, 2:41 PM MDT for Adams County, Arapahoe County, Colorado. It was in force for 39 min. 1 report 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
Jun 21, 1998, 2:41 PM MDT (20:41 UTC)
Expired
Jun 21, 1998, 3:20 PM MDT
In force
39 min
Issued by
NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
Area
Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

Counties Adams County, CO, Arapahoe County, CO

The radar

The Denver radar (KFTG), 15 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:45 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
Jun 21, 3:14 PM MDTTornado F0Byers, 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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Jun 21, 1:30 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Denver, CO (KDNR), launched 12:00Z, 8.7 hours before the alert went out and 106 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 1998-06-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 68 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 1998-06-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 146 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
68 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-265 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1823 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
146 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
191 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.

219 
WUUS1 KDEN 212043 RRA
SVRDEN
COC001-005-212120-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
241 PM MDT SUN JUN 21 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
     SOUTH CENTRAL ADAMS COUNTY IN NORTHEAST COLORADO
     CENTRAL ARAPAHOE COUNTY IN NORTHEAST COLORADO

* UNTIL 320 PM MDT

* AT 239 PM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER BENNETT...OR ABOUT 28 MILES EAST OF
  DENVER...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MILES PER HOUR.

* LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE...ARAPAHOE PARK...BENNETT...
  BYERS...COUNTRY GARDENS...DEER TRAIL...MANILA VILLAGE AND STRASBURG

IF SEVERE WEATHER APPROACHES YOUR AREA...GO INSIDE A STURDY SHELTER
AWAY FROM CREEK BEDS AND OTHER FLOOD-PRONE AREAS. REMEMBER...A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM CAN PRODUCE LARGE DAMAGING HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS OVER 60
MPH...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.

A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 700 PM MDT FOR 
EASTERN COLORADO. 

ENTREKIN

LAT...LON 3964 10471 3955 10456 3960 10396 3994 10428

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.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jun 21, 10:55 AM MDT, 3 hours 46 minutes before
COZ030-032>050-220600-

SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
1115 AM MDT SUN JUN 22 1998

THIS OUTLOOK PERTAINS TO THE FOLLOWING COLORADO COUNTIES

ADAMS     ARAPAHOE     BOULDER   CLEAR CREEK   DENVER       DOUGLAS
ELBERT    GILPIN       GRAND     JACKSON       JEFFERSON    LARIMER
LINCOLN   LOGAN        MORGAN    PARK          PHILLIPS     SEDGWICK
SUMMIT    WASHINGTON   WELD

SYNOPSIS:  ABUNDANT MOISTURE WILL MOVE INTO THE AREA AT THE SAME
TIME A WEAK UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVES IN.  THIS AND DAYTIME
HEATING WILL CAUSE SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS TO OCCUR.  THE STRONGEST
STORMS WILL BE MAINLY ALONG THE PALMER DIVIDE AND SOUTHEAST OF
I-76.

HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS ARE POSSIBLE SO SPOTTER ACTIVATION
MAY BE NEEDED.

TA

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jun 21, 1:15 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUAdams40 min
Jun 21, 3:11 PM MDTTornado WarningBOUArapahoe34 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Colorado, 1998Every 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.