Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 39, NWS Goodland, KS

May 20, 1998Yuma County, Colorado

NWS Goodland, KS issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 20, 1998, 8:49 PM MDT for Yuma County, Colorado. It was in force for 31 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 20, 1998, 8:49 PM MDT (02:49 UTC)
Expired: May 20, 1998, 9:20 PM MDT
In force: 31 min
Issued by: NWS Goodland, KS
Area: Whole counties

County Yuma County, CO

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
May 20, 8:58 PM MDT	Hail 0.75	Yuma, 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 00:00Z, 2.8 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-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: 87 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -39 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 3075 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -42 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 46 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.

306 
WUUS1 KGLD 210251 RRA
SVRGLD
COC125-210320-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
849 PM MDT WED MAY 20 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GOODLAND HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  WESTERN YUMA COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN COLORADO

* UNTIL 920 PM MDT

* AT 847 PM MDT... GOODLAND DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
  THUNDERSTORM 22 MILES WEST OF WRAY OR 8 MILES WEST OF ECKLEY
  MOVING NORTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  9 MILES NORTHEAST OF YUMA               AROUND 900 PM MDT
  ECKLEY                                  AROUND 905 PM MDT

THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM STAY INDOORS AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

KPL

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 20, 3:13 PM MDT, 5 hours 36 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 20, 3:13 PM MDT, 5 hours 36 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...CORRECTED TYPOS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
313 PM MDT (413 PM CDT) WED MAY 20 1998

...FORECAST PROBLEMS WILL BE CHC OF PCPN/BEHAVIOR OF FRONT AND THEIR
AFFECT ON TEMPS...

TRICKY FCST THIS CYCLE. FCST COMPLICATED BY PSBL MESOSCALE AFFECTS
OF PCPN/MCS. ETA CONTS TO PERFORM WELL. IT INITD BEST IN ALMOST
EVERY PARAMETER. I ESPECIALLY LIKE HOW IT WAS THE MDL THAT PICKED UP
ON JET WNDS TO THE SOUTH AND SW OF WRN CONUS UPR LOW. IT ALSO IS
CATCHING THE S/WS IN THE SW FLOW ALFT BETTER THAN THE OTHER TWO.
NGM INITD TOO COOL AND IS EXHIBITING ITS BIAS OF LWRG PRESSURES
TOO MUCH ACROSS THE PLAINS AND TAKG LOWS TOO FAR NORTH PER NATL
DISCUSSIONS.

ETA ALSO CATCHES THE DPS BETTER ALTHOUGH IT LOOKS A BIT LOW. AGAIN
TEMPS ACROSS THE AREA DID NOT WARM AS MUCH AS EXPECTED. ADAP STILL
SHOWS STRONG CAP OVR AREA WHICH WAS THE REASON CONV WAS SQUASHED YDA.
HWVR...APPEARS WE WILL GET STRONGER DYNAMICS FM S/W NOW IN DESERT SW
AS ADVERTISED BY ETA. ETA ALSO HINTS AT SOME JET SUPPORT AT 250.
ALSO 700 AND 500 MB HEIGHTS LOOK A LTL LWR THAN YDA. BASED ON SMLR
SYNOPTIC/SCENARIO TO YDA SETTING UP FOR TONIGHT...WL PUT 20-40
PERCENT POPS WITH HIGHEST IN THE NORTH.

ALL PARAMETERS IMPROVE TMRW AFTN INTO THU NGT FOR TSTMS TO FIRE. AMS
COOLS ALOFT...PLUS GET STRONGER JET SUPPORT PER ETA...AND LINGERING
MSTR...FRONT...AND OUTFLOW BOUNDERIES. THEREFORE WL START WITH LWR
POPS DURG THE DAY...AND INCREASE DURG NGT WITH POP GRADIENT SET UP
THE SAME WAY AS FOR THE FIRST PD. WITH LINGERING MSTR DYAMICS ON FRI
WL LEAVE A LOW CHC IN.

NGM HAS BEEN TOO WARM OF LATE DUE TO ELY SFC FLOW AND RAIN COOLED
AMS. THINK THIS AGAIN WL OCCUR FOR MOST OF THE TIME. HWVR...NGM
APPEARS TO GO TOO COOL ON FRI CONSIDERING SFC WNDS...LACK OF THICK
CLD COVER...AND TIME OF YEAR. THEREFORE WL GO BLO MOS FOR THE MOST
PART THE FIRST THREE PERIODS...AND A LTL ABV ON FRI.

.KGLD...NONE.

BULLER

In the hours before

Local storm report, May 20, 8:26 PM MDT, 23 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KANSAS
826 PM MDT WED MAY 20 1998

TIME(MDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0800 PM    19 S YUMA                 CO   1.25 INCH HAIL
05/20/98   YUMA

0815 PM    16S 6E YUMA               CO   1.75 INCH HAIL
05/20/98   YUMA

MLC

Local storm report, May 20, 8:43 PM MDT, 6 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KANSAS
843 PM MDT WED MAY 20 1998

TIME(MDT)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0835 PM    5S 3W YUMA                CO      1.5 INCH HAIL
05/20/98   YUMA

MLC

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 20, 7:40 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Yuma	65 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.