Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Warnings in 1999

Tornado Warning 2, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO

May 16, 1999Elbert County, Colorado

NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this tornado warning at May 16, 1999, 3:55 PM MDT for Elbert County, Colorado. It was in force for 30 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties.

The facts

Issued: May 16, 1999, 3:55 PM MDT (21:55 UTC)
Expired: May 16, 1999, 4:25 PM MDT
In force: 30 min
Issued by: NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Elbert County, CO

The radar

The Denver radar (KFTG), 47 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:58 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, 9.9 hours before the alert went out and 105 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1884 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 63 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -49 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 183 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.

999 
WFUS1 KDEN 162154 RRA
TORDEN
COC039-162225-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
355 PM MDT SUN MAY 16 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTH CENTRAL ELBERT COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL COLORADO

* UNTIL 425 PM MDT

* AT 350 PM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  THUNDERSTORM WITH A POSSIBLE TORNADO OVER WEST CENTRAL ELBERT
  COUNTY...OR ABOUT 38 MILES WEST OF LIMON...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20
  MPH.

LARGE DAMAGING HAIL WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM.  

IF IN MOBILE HOMES OR VEHICLES...EVACUATE THEM AND GET INSIDE A 
SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. IF NO SHELTER IS AVAILABLE...LIE FLAT IN THE 
NEAREST DITCH OR OTHER LOW SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER IN A NEARBY REINFORCED
BUILDING. AS A LAST RESORT...SEEK SHELTER IN A CULVERT...DITCH OR LOW
SPOT AND COVER YOUR HEAD WITH YOUR HANDS.

BAKER
LAT...LON 3936 10447 3929 10442 3935 10409 3952 10413
          3956 10425

The office that day

Everything else NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
May 15, 8:28 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Morgan, Weld	47 min
May 15, 9:12 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Morgan	48 min
May 15, 9:56 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Morgan	34 min
May 16, 3:15 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Elbert	35 min
May 16, 4:47 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Elbert, Lincoln	43 min
May 16, 5:38 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Lincoln	37 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Colorado, 1999 Every tornado warning in 1999 Tornadoes in 1999

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.