Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 28, NWS Goodland, KS

August 9, 1998Kit Carson County, Colorado

NWS Goodland, KS issued this tornado warning at Aug 9, 1998, 5:50 PM MDT for Kit Carson County, Colorado. It was in force for 35 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Aug 9, 1998, 5:50 PM MDT (23:50 UTC)
Expired
Aug 9, 1998, 6:25 PM MDT
In force
35 min
Issued by
NWS Goodland, KS
Area
Whole counties

County Kit Carson County, CO

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 78 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:54 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, 11.8 hours before the alert went out and 83 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 1998-08-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 13 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 1998-08-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 20 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
13 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-340 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2304 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
20 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
11 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.

750 
WFUS1 KGLD 092350 RRA
TORGLD
COC063-100025-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
550 PM MDT SUN AUG 9 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GOODLAND HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  EXTREME NORTHWESTERN KIT CARSON COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL COLORADO

* UNTIL 625 PM MDT

* AT 548 PM MDT... GOODLAND DOPPLER RADAR AND PUBLIC REPORTS
  INDICATED A TORNADO 36 MILES NORTHEAST OF LIMON OR 18
  MILES NORTH OF FLAGLER MOVING EAST AT 5 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO AFFECT...
  RURAL RESIDENTS AND MOTORISTS IN THE WARNED AREA

A TORNADO HAS BEEN SIGHTED GO TO THE BASEMENT IF A BASEMENT IS
NOT AVAILABLE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR

TURNER/MANNING

What 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.

NWS Goodland, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Aug 9, 1:22 PM MDT, 4 hours 28 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 9, 1:22 PM MDT, 4 hours 28 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
122 PM MDT (222 PM CDT) SUN AUG 9 1998

    ...TIMING THE UPCOMING CHANGES TO BE THE KEY THIS PACKAGE...
   FAST-MOVING SHORTWAVE IN NWRN COLORADO PROGGED TO MOVE ALMOST
DUE EAST INTO NWRN CWA THIS EVENING. GOOD CAPES DEVELOPING BETWEEN
HERE AND AKO SHOULD HELP SUSTAIN CONVECTIVE PROCESS. ALTHOUGH SFC
TEMPS ARE MARGINAL FOR CU/TCU ALONG CO/KS BORDER...THERE APPEARS TO
BE ENOUGH MOMENTUM IN THIS WAVE TO CARRY TO KS BORDER AND BEYOND...
IN ADDITION...TSRA CLUSTER OR SMALL MCS IN EXTREME NERN/SWRN
NEBRASKA PANHANDLE COULD DEVELOP ALONG H7 TROF AND MOVE ESEWD ALONG
LOW LEVEL MOISTURE/THETA E AXIS INTO CWA AFTER 06Z. THESE FEATURES
WARRANT HOLDING ONTO GOING POPS OF 30 FROM PREVIOUS FCST.
   MODELS SUPPORT A COOLER LAYER OF AIR SAGGING SWD BEHIND THIS WAVE
ON MONDAY AND EARLY TUESDAY TIME FRAME IN H85/H7 LAYER. WITH A SSWD
BUT SLOW-MOVING SURFACE RIDGE AXIS FROM MCK TO SOUTH OF GLD IN 12
TO 30 HOUR WINDOW ON BACKSIDE...QUESTION IS...HOW THICK AND
WIDESPREAD WILL THE H5/H7 MOISTURE LAYER WILL BE...AND TO WHAT EXTENT
AND DURATION NNELY/ENELY BOUNDARY FLOW IS SUSTAINED DURING THE DAY
MONDAY...IE A DEVELOPING BACKDOOR SFC FRONT IN HLC/MCK AREAS. HAVE
USED THE ETA TO DEPICT THIS SCENARIO AND ITS CORRESPONDING H85 TEMP
PROGS.
   REALLY MY ONLY CONCERN THIS FCST IS WITH...POSSIBLY WARMER HIGH
AND LOW TEMPS THAN WHAT MY FORECAST ENTAILS. THAT IS...TAKING
THE ETA SOLUTION OVER FWC/NGM MOS. FEEL FAIRLY CONFIDENT THAT MUCH
OF THE AREA WILL HAVE AN ENELY SHIFTING TO A MORE SSELY BOUNDARY
LAYER FLOW IN EXTD PDS...SUCH THAT CONSIDERABLE CLOUDINESS AND -SHRA
ACTIVITY FROM SWRN USA TROPICAL SYSTEM SHOULD DEVELOP. ONLY QUESTION
HERE IS...WHEN WILL THIS MOISTURE DEPART REGION. IT APPEARS TO
REMAIN OVERHEAD UNTIL LATE THURSDAY OR MIDDAY FRIDAY.

.GLD...NONE
VOJTESAK

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 9, 5:38 PM MDT, 12 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
538 PM MDT SUN AUG 09 1998

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

0536 PM    11 N 2 E YUMA             CO    1.25 INCH HAIL
08/09/98   YUMA
Local storm report, Aug 9, 5:38 PM MDT, 12 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
538 PM MDT SUN AUG 09 1998

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

0536 PM    11 N 2 E YUMA             CO    1.25 INCH HAIL
08/09/98   YUMA
Local storm report, Aug 9, 5:39 PM MDT, 11 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTED TIME
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
539 PM MDT (639 PM CDT) SUN AUG 9 1998

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

0529 PM    11 N 2 E YUMA             CO    1.25 INCH HAIL
08/09/98   YUMA

MLC

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 9, 5:13 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDYuma62 min
Aug 9, 5:41 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDCheyenne64 min
Aug 9, 5:56 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDKit Carson64 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.