Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 30, NWS Goodland, KS

May 8, 1998Yuma County, Colorado

NWS Goodland, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 8, 1998, 4:52 PM MDT for Yuma County, Colorado. It was in force for 63 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued
May 8, 1998, 4:52 PM MDT (22:52 UTC)
Expired
May 8, 1998, 5:55 PM MDT
In force
63 min
Issued by
NWS Goodland, KS
Area
Whole counties

County Yuma County, CO

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 94 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:52 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
May 8, 5:18 PM MDTHail 1Yuma, 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, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 70 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 1998-05-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 1998-05-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -49 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1711 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-49 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-45 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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.

NWS Goodland, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at May 8, 1:31 PM MDT, 3 hours 21 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 8, 1:31 PM MDT, 3 hours 21 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
131 PM MDT (231 PM CDT) FRI MAY 8 1998

...CHALLENGE IS PROBABILITY OF PRECIPITATION THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT
AND TEMPERATURES...

AVN AND ETA INITIALIZED THE SOUTHWEST US 500 LOW TO DEEP BUT DID
WELL WITH NORTHERN PLAINS 500 LOW. AS MENTIONED EARLIER...THE
CONTINUED BLOCKY PATTERN WOULD SUGGEST A SLOWER NGM SOLUTION MAY BE
A BIT BETTER.

IN THE SHORT TERM...THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING OVER EASTERN COLORADO
AS EXPECTED AS LACK OF CLOUDINESS AND UPSLOPE FLOW...WITH AN
APPARENT DENVER CYCLONE (AS HINTED AT BY THE NGM) KICKING THINGS OF
EARLY. 500 MB LOW MOVING TOWARD THE TEXAS PANHANDLE WITH SURFACE LOW
PRESSURE DEVELOPING OVER TEXAS PANHANDLE WILL STRENGTHEN BY
EVENING. STRONG VERTICAL MOTION...INCREASING LOW LEVEL SHEAR...AND
A LITTLE DAYTIME HEATING LOOK FAVORABLE FOR A FEW SEVERE STORMS TO
BECOME SEVERE. WINDFIELDS ARE SOMEWHAT FAVORABLE FOR A FEW
TORNADOES...BUT THE PRIMARY THREAT APPEARS TO BE LARGE HAIL WITH LOW
WET BULB ZEROS. AFTER SUNSET...LOW CONTINUES TO DEEPEN WHILE SLOWLY
MOVING EAST. UPSLOPE FLOW STRENGTHENS WITH CONTINUED GOOD DYNAMICS
AND ABUNDANT MOITURE WOULD SUGGEST A GOOD SOAKING RAIN. MODELS
DIVERGE A BIT ON THIS WITH NGM WETTER THAN THE ETA AND AVN. SATURDAY
WILL SEE MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES AND LIGHT RAIN AS WEAK UPSLOPE
CONTINUES. TEMPERATURES WILL BE RATHER COOL...GENERALLY IN THE 50S.
PRECIPITATION MOVES OUT FROM WEST TO EAST SATURDAY NIGHT...AS
LOW CONTINUES TO MOVE EAST AWAY FROM THE AREA. ZONE BREAKS WERE
SET ACCORDINGLY. ON SUNDAY...850 AND 700 MB RIDGE
DEVELOPS...TEMPERATURES WILL WARM BACK TO THE 70S.

IN THE LONG TERM...MRF DEVELOPS A LEE TROUGH MONDAY WITH WEAK
DYNAMICS. WILL MENTION CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS. TUESDAY...SHORT
WAVE TROUGH MOVES THROUGH FROM THE NORTHWEST AFTER FRONTAL PASSAGE.
WILL KEEP MENTION OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. WEDNESDAY...WINDS
BECOME SOUTHEAST AS LEE TROUGH AGAIN DEVELOPS ALONG FRONT RANGE OF
THE ROCKIES. WILL KEEP SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IN THE FORECAST.

KEPT CLOSE TO FWC AND MRF GUIDANCE FOR THIS PACKAGE.

.GLD...NONE.

DDT

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 8, 2:18 PM MDT, 2 hours 34 minutes before
COZ090>092-KSZ013-027-028-041-042-090215-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
217 PM MDT (317 PM CDT) FRI MAY 8 1998

..A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM MDT (9 PM CDT)...

THE STORM PREDICTION CENTER IN NORMAN OKLAHOMA HAS ISSUED THE TORNADO
WATCH FOR THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES:

IN EASTERN COLORADO: YUMA...KIT CARSON...CHEYENNE

IN NORTHWEST KANSAS: SHERMAN...WALLACE...LOGAN...GREELEY AND WICHITA.

A MOIST AN UNSTABLE AIRMASS WILL BE IN PLACE AS AN UPPER LEVEL LOW
PRESSURE SYSTEM BEGIN TO EJECT FROM THE SOUTHERN ROCKIES.
THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE DEVELOPMENT OVER EASTERN COLORADO LATE
THIS AFTERNOON...AND WILL MOVE INTO WESTERN KANSAS. THE STORMS COULD
BECOME SEVERE...WITH HAIL UP TO GOLFBALL SIZE...AND POSSIBLY
TORNADOES.

IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO...THE SAFEST PLACE IN A HOME OR
BUSINESS IS AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR POSSIBLE.  AVOID
WINDOWS.

AT SIGNS OF AN IMPENDING STORM...TOWERING THUNDERHEADS...DARKENING
SKIES...LIGHTNING AND INCREASING WINDS...MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY.
TUNE IN NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR YOUR LOCAL RADIO OR TV STATION FOR
THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION.

STAVISH

The office that day

Everything else NWS Goodland, KS issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 8, 12:39 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDYuma66 min
May 8, 1:54 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDYuma66 min
May 8, 2:57 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDYuma63 min
May 8, 3:57 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDYuma63 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.