Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 1, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this tornado warning at May 21, 1998, 4:22 PM MDT for Weld County, Colorado. It was in force for 28 min. No storm report in the archive falls 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.
The facts
- Issued
- May 21, 1998, 4:22 PM MDT (22:22 UTC)
- Expired
- May 21, 1998, 4:50 PM MDT
- In force
- 28 min
- Issued by
- NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
- Area
- Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction
County Weld County, CO
The radar
The Cheyenne radar (KCYS), 86 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:23 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.
The nearest sounding before it
Denver, CO (KDNR), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 127 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- No buoyant parcel
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2454 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 36 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 56 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 158 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
302
WFUS1 KDEN 212224 RRA
TORDEN
COC123-212250-
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
422 PM MDT THU MAY 21 1998
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A
* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
NORTHEAST WELD COUNTY IN NORTHEAST COLORADO
* UNTIL 450 PM MDT
* AT 415 PM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
THUNDERSTORM WITH A POSSIBLE TORNADO OVER NORTHEASTERN WELD
COUNTY...OR ABOUT 38 MILES NORTHWEST OF STERLING...MOVING EAST AT
20 MILES PER HOUR.
THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE DURING A TORNADO IS IN A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A
WORKBENCH OR OTHER PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO BASEMENT IS
AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF THE BUILDING IN AN
INTERIOR HALLWAY OR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET. USE BLANKETS OR PILLOWS TO
COVER YOUR BODY AND ALWAYS STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.
THIS TORNADO WARNING REPLACES THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING ISSUED AT
357 PM MDT.
LAT...LON 4093 10394 4083 10386 4089 10369 4097 10376
LESZCYNSKIWhat forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this tornado 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, May 21, 11:53 AM MDT, 4 hours 29 minutes before
COZ030-032>050-220600- SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO 1153 AM MDT THU MAY 21 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: AN UPPER SYSTEM PUSHED EAST OF THE AREA EARLIER THIS MORNING...BRINGING MORE STABLE AND DRY CONDITIONS...AS WELL AS DOWNSLOPE WINDS...TO PLAINS ADJACENT TO THE FOOTHILLS. HOWEVER...AT THE SURFACE AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WAS OVER SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON COUNTY AT THIS TIME...AND IS EXPECTED TO MOVE LITTLE THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. THE ASSOCIATED WIND FIELD WILL KEEP AREAS EAST AND NORTH OF THE LOW IN MORE MOIST UPSLOPE FLOW...AREAS TO THE SOUTH AND WEST WILL BE MUCH DRIER. SO THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THAT DEVELOP OVER THE ALPINE AREAS BY EARLY AFTERNOON WILL DISSIPATED WHEN THEY PUSH OFF THE FOOTHILLS INTO THESE DRY AREAS. EXPECT ONLY ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS AFTER 4 PM IN JEFFERSON...DENVER...DOUGLAS...ELBERT... LINCOLN...ARAPAHOE COUNTIES. THE UPPER SYSTEM THAT PUSHED THROUGH EARLIER HAS LEFT A FAIRLY STABLE AREA AT THE MID LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE. THIS WILL MAKE THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPMENT MORE DIFFICULT...EVEN IN THE MORE MOIST COUNTIES. EXPECTED WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS AFTER 2:30 PM IN BOULDER...LARIMER...WELD...MORGAN...ADAMS...WASHINGTON ...LOGAN...PHILLIPS...AND SEDGWICK COUNTIES. SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED AFTER 3 PM OVER THE FAR NORTHEAST BORDER COUNTIES OF COLORADO. RJK
Special weather statement, May 21, 12:25 PM MDT, 3 hours 57 minutes before
COZ030-032>050-220600- SIGNIFICANT WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER COLORADO 1153 AM MDT THU MAY 21 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: AN UPPER SYSTEM PUSHED EAST OF THE AREA EARLIER THIS MORNING...BRINGING MORE STABLE AND DRY CONDITIONS...AS WELL AS DOWNSLOPE WINDS...TO PLAINS ADJACENT TO THE FOOTHILLS. HOWEVER...AT THE SURFACE AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WAS OVER SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON COUNTY AT THIS TIME...AND IS EXPECTED TO MOVE LITTLE THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. THE ASSOCIATED WIND FIELD WILL KEEP AREAS EAST AND NORTH OF THE LOW IN MORE MOIST UPSLOPE FLOW...AREAS TO THE SOUTH AND WEST WILL BE MUCH DRIER. SO THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THAT DEVELOP OVER THE ALPINE AREAS BY EARLY AFTERNOON WILL DISSIPATED WHEN THEY PUSH OFF THE FOOTHILLS INTO THESE DRY AREAS. EXPECT ONLY ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS AFTER 4 PM IN JEFFERSON...DENVER...DOUGLAS...ELBERT... LINCOLN...ARAPAHOE COUNTIES. THE UPPER SYSTEM THAT PUSHED THROUGH EARLIER HAS LEFT A FAIRLY STABLE AREA AT THE MID LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE. THIS WILL MAKE THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPMENT MORE DIFFICULT...EVEN IN THE MORE MOIST COUNTIES. EXPECTED WIDELY SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS AFTER 2:30 PM IN BOULDER...LARIMER...WELD...MORGAN...ADAMS...WASHINGTON ...LOGAN...PHILLIPS...AND SEDGWICK COUNTIES. SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED AFTER 3 PM OVER THE FAR NORTHEAST BORDER C"OUNTIES OF COLORADO. RJK
Special weather statement, May 21, 4:16 PM MDT, 6 minutes before
COZ043-044-212245- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 416 PM MDT THU MAY 21 1998 ...THUNDERSTORM IN FAR EAST CENTRAL WELD AND WEST CENTRAL MORGAN COUNTIES OF COLORADO AT 409 PM MDT THE PUBLIC REPORTED A POSSIBLE TORNADO BETWEEN FORT MORGAN AND WIGGINS. WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A THUNDERSTORM ABOUT 3 MILES SOUTH OF ORCHARD...OR ABOUT 16 MILES WEST OF FORT MORGAN...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MILES PER HOUR. THIS STORM LIES ALONG A BOUNDARY WHICH MAY PRODUCE A BRIEF FUNNEL CLOUD OR LANDSPOUT. PERSONS IN OR NEAR GOODRICH...JACKSON RESERVOIR...ORCHARD...WELDONA AND WIGGINS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING WEATHER AND MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY IF BAD WEATHER APPROACHES. ENTREKIN
Special weather statement, May 21, 4:16 PM MDT, 6 minutes before
COZ043-044-212245- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 416 PM MDT THU MAY 21 1998 ...THUNDERSTORM IN FAR EAST CENTRAL WELD AND WEST CENTRAL MORGAN COUNTIES OF COLORADO AT 409 PM MDT THE PUBLIC REPORTED A POSSIBLE TORNADO BETWEEN FORT MORGAN AND WIGGINS. WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A THUNDERSTORM ABOUT 3 MILES SOUTH OF ORCHARD...OR ABOUT 16 MILES WEST OF FORT MORGAN...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MILES PER HOUR. THIS STORM LIES ALONG A BOUNDARY WHICH MAY PRODUCE A BRIEF FUNNEL CLOUD OR LANDSPOUT. PERSONS IN OR NEAR GOODRICH...JACKSON RESERVOIR...ORCHARD...WELDONA AND WIGGINS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING WEATHER AND MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY IF BAD WEATHER APPROACHES. ENTREKIN
The office that day
Everything else NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 20, 6:22 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Washington | 38 min |
| May 20, 6:36 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Washington | 24 min |
| May 20, 7:01 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Washington | 39 min |
| May 21, 1:50 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Logan | 55 min |
| May 21, 2:19 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Weld | 36 min |
| May 21, 3:18 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Weld | 42 min |
| May 21, 3:57 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Weld | 48 min |
| May 21, 4:51 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Logan, Weld | 39 min |
| May 21, 5:35 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Logan | 35 min |
| May 21, 5:41 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | BOU | Phillips, Sedgwick | 39 min |
| May 21, 5:47 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | BOU | Phillips, Sedgwick | 33 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Colorado, 1998Every tornado warning in 1998Tornadoes 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.