Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 3, NWS Goodland, KS

May 5, 1998Kit Carson County, Colorado

NWS Goodland, KS issued this tornado warning at May 5, 1998, 5:25 PM MDT for Kit Carson County, Colorado. It was in force for 45 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 5, 1998, 5:25 PM MDT (23:25 UTC)
Expired
May 5, 1998, 6:10 PM MDT
In force
45 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 23:26 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 5, 5:35 PM MDTTornado F0Vona, COBrief tornado observed by law enforcement.

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, 11.4 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 1998-05-05Temperature 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 1998-05-05The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -21 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
890 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-21 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-121 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.

000 
TTAA00 KGLD 052325 RRA
TORGLD

COC063-060010-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
525 PM MDT TUE MAY 5 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GOODLAND HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 610 PM MDT

* AT 525 PM MDT... GOODLAND DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING
  TORNADO 31 MILES NORTHWEST OF BURLINGTON OR 17 MILES NORTH OF VONA
  MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  9 MILES NORTH OF STRATTON               AROUND 545 PM MDT

GO TO THE BASEMENT OR A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR!

HARMON/MARTELLO

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 4, 8:08 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDYuma62 min
May 5, 4:41 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDKit Carson, Yuma64 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.