Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Warnings in 1998

Tornado Warning 8, NWS Goodland, KS

May 22, 1998Yuma County, Colorado

NWS Goodland, KS issued this tornado warning at May 22, 1998, 5:25 PM MDT for Yuma County, Colorado. It was in force for 50 min. 2 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 22, 1998, 5:25 PM MDT (23:25 UTC)
Expired
May 22, 1998, 6:15 PM MDT
In force
50 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 23:27 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 22, 5:45 PM MDTHail 1.75Yuma, CO
May 22, 6:17 PM MDTHail 1.75Vernon, COAccompanied by 60 to 70 mph wind. Lasted 10 minutes.

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 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 1998-05-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 105 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 1998-05-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 33 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
105 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-12 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
747 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
33 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
109 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KGLD 222324 RRA
TORGLD
COC125-230015-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
525 PM MDT FRI MAY 22 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GOODLAND HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  WESTERN YUMA COUNTY IN NORTHEASTERN COLORADO

* UNTIL 615 PM MDT

* AT 523 PM MDT... GOODLAND DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A DEVELOPING
  TORNADO 32 MILES WEST OF WRAY OR 15 MILES SOUTH OF YUMA MOVING
  EAST AT 25 MPH.

* THE TORNADO IS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR...
  14 MILES SOUTHEAST OF YUMA              AROUND 550 PM MDT

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

VJN/KPL

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 May 22, 2:10 PM MDT, 3 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 22, 2:10 PM MDT, 3 hours 15 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
210 PM MDT (310 PM CDT) FRI MAY 22 1998

...MAIN FCST CHALLENGE IS CONVECTION TONIGHT...

ETA AND AVN INITIALIZED WELL...BOTH WERE EXCELLENT AT 5H. ETA/AVN
WERE BOTH GOOD AT SFC...WHILE NGM WAS TOO DEEP ON THE LOW OVER KS AT
12Z. BY 18Z ETA WAS BEST AT SFC AS IT INDICATED DEVELOPING LOW OVER
EASTERN COLORADO. WILL FOLLOW ETA THIS PACKAGE.

WV SATELLITE SHOWS A VORT MAX MOVING INTO CENTRAL CO WHICH IS FIRING
TRW ALONG THE FRONT RANGE. THIS FIRST WAVE WILL TRIGGER CONVECTION
OVER WESTERN SECTIONS OF FA BEGINNING LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH
THE EVENING. WITH SFC LOW DEEPENING OVER EASTERN CO LATE THIS
AFTERNOON...MOIST UPSLOPE FLOW WILL PRODUCE BEST MOISTURE
CONVERGENCE FROM NE CO ACROSS NORTHERN AND EASTERN SECTIONS OF FA.
Q VECTOR ANALYSIS SHOWS STRONGEST CONVERGENCE OVER THETA E RIDGE
ACROSS EASTERN FA BY 00Z. WENT HIGHEST POPS NRN AND ERN FA FOR THESE
REASONS.

UPSLOPE FLOW CONTINUES FOR MOST OF THE NIGHT. THIS COMBINED WITH
SOME OUTFLOW COOLED AIR OVER FA...SO EXPECT AREAS OF FOG TO DEVELOP
OVER ALL BUT FAR SRN ZONES. WITH CLOUDS AND E WINDS MOST OF THE
NIGHT...TEMPERATURES SHOULD STAY ABOVE FWC/FAN NUMBERS.

UPPER LEVEL LOW KICKS OFF TO THE NORTHERN PLAINS ON SAT...DRAGGING
THE SFC LOW INTO EASTERN KS. NORTHERLY WINDS WILL SPREAD ACROSS FA
EARLY SAT MORNING. ALTHOUGH Q VECTOR ANALYSIS INDICATES BEST FORCING
OVER EASTERN KS BY 12Z...THINK THAT WRAP AROUND MOISTURE WILL
CONTINUE WIDELY SCATTERED CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY SAT MORNING OVER
EASTERN ZONES.

PRECIPITATION ENDS BY SAT AFTERNOON WITH DRY CONDITIONS FOR THE REST
OF THE PERIODS. CAA BEHIND SFC LOW KEEPS 850/700 THICKNESSES 30M
LOWER THROUGH SUN AFTERNOON PER ETA/AVN. PREFER FAN NUMBERS OVER
SLIGHTLY WARMER FWC.

.GLD...NONE

MLC/TURNER

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 21, 8:58 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDYuma32 min
May 21, 9:30 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDYuma35 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.