Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 4, NWS Goodland, KS

May 5, 1998Kit Carson County, Colorado

NWS Goodland, KS issued this tornado warning at May 5, 1998, 6:22 PM MDT for Kit Carson County, Colorado. It was in force for 48 min. 5 reports 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, 6:22 PM MDT (00:22 UTC)
Expired
May 5, 1998, 7:10 PM MDT
In force
48 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 00:23 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, 6:30 PM MDTHail 0.88Stratton, CO
May 5, 6:30 PM MDTTornado F0Bethune, COTornadic debris cloud observed by spotters.
May 5, 6:50 PM MDTHail 1.75Stratton, COHail 1/2 inch to golfball size; also 2.75 inches of rain in less than 60 minutes.
May 5, 7:00 PM MDTHail 0.75Bethune, CO
May 5, 7:20 PM MDTThunderstorm Wind 57Burlington, COEstimated 60 to 70 mph winds blew out windows.

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.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
May 5, 6:00 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPC6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Denver, CO (KDNR), launched 00:00Z, 0.4 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 00:00Z on 1998-05-06Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 351 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 1998-05-06The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 20 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
351 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-25 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1870 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
20 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
141 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KGLD 060022 RRA
TORGLD
COC063-060110-

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

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GOODLAND HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 710 PM MDT

* AT 621 PM MDT... GOODLAND DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING
  TORNADO 14 MILES NORTHWEST OF BURLINGTON OR 8 MILES NORTHWEST OF
  BETHUNE MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  BETHUNE                                 AROUND 640 PM MDT

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

VJN

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 5, 6:10 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDKit Carson60 min
May 5, 7:11 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDKit Carson34 min
May 5, 7:41 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDKit Carson34 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.