Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Warnings in 1998
Tornado Warning 4, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this tornado warning at May 21, 1998, 6:13 PM MDT for Phillips County, Sedgwick County, Colorado. It was in force for 22 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
- May 21, 1998, 6:13 PM MDT (00:13 UTC)
- Expired
- May 21, 1998, 6:35 PM MDT
- In force
- 22 min
- Issued by
- NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
- Area
- Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction
Counties Phillips County, CO, Sedgwick County, CO
The radar
The Goodland radar (KGLD), 161 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:16 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 21, 6:15 PM MDT | Hail 2.75 | Amherst, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 21, 2:15 PM MDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Denver, CO (KDNR), launched 00:00Z, 0.2 hours before the alert went out and 135 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
- 600 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -98 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2597 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 28 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -67 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 92 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
854
WFUS1 KDEN 220017 RRA
TORDEN
COC095-115-220035-
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
613 PM MDT THU MAY 21 1998
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A
* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
NORTHEASTERN PHILLIPS COUNTY IN NORTHEAST COLORADO
SOUTHEASTERN SEDGWICK COUNTY IN NORTHEAST COLORADO
* UNTIL 635 PM MDT
* AT 608 PM MDT...THE WAS A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH A POSSIBLE
TORNADO OVER AMHERST...OR ABOUT 11 MILES NORTHEAST OF
HOLYOKE...MOVING EAST AT 25 MILES PER HOUR.
* LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE...AMHERST AND SIXTEEN-MILE CORNER
TENNIS SIZE HAIL HAS BEEN REPORTED WITH THIS STORM. THIS WARNING
REPLACES THE EARLIER TORNADO WARNING FOR THE ABOVE AREA.
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.
ENTREKIN
LAT...LON 4079 10224 4064 10219 4069 10205 4094 10205The office that day
Everything else NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 21, 6:15 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Logan | 45 min |
| May 21, 7:27 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Morgan, Weld | 33 min |
| May 21, 8:01 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Morgan, Weld | 39 min |
| May 21, 8:55 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Logan, Phillips | 35 min |
| May 21, 10:36 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Adams, Weld | 34 min |
| May 22, 11:56 AM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Boulder, Jefferson | 34 min |
| May 22, 12:29 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Boulder, Jefferson, Weld | 46 min |
| May 22, 12:29 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Adams | 46 min |
| May 22, 1:00 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Adams, Weld | 30 min |
| May 22, 1:10 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Boulder, Larimer, Weld | 25 min |
| May 22, 1:30 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Adams, Weld | 45 min |
| May 22, 1:35 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Larimer, Weld | 40 min |
| May 22, 1:41 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Weld | 34 min |
| May 22, 2:06 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Adams, Arapahoe, Denver | 39 min |
| May 22, 2:15 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Morgan, Weld | 45 min |
| May 22, 2:21 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Weld | 24 min |
| May 22, 2:45 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Morgan, Weld | 45 min |
| May 22, 2:58 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Adams, Arapahoe | 32 min |
| May 22, 3:15 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Morgan, Weld | 40 min |
| May 22, 3:21 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | BOU | Adams, Arapahoe | 24 min |
| May 22, 3:55 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Morgan, Washington | 35 min |
| May 22, 4:11 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Adams | 34 min |
| May 22, 4:30 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Logan, Morgan, Washington | 30 min |
| May 22, 4:40 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Washington | 50 min |
| May 22, 4:46 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Adams, Washington | 44 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.