Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Warnings in 2002
Tornado Warning 23, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this tornado warning at Aug 27, 2002, 2:52 PM MDT for Jefferson County, Colorado. It was in force for 38 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The outline as issued, with what was reported inside it.
The facts
- Issued
- Aug 27, 2002, 2:52 PM MDT (20:52 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 27, 2002, 3:30 PM MDT
- In force
- 38 min
- Issued by
- NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
- Area
- Counties, with a storm outline in the text
County Jefferson County, CO
The radar
The Denver radar (KFTG), 64 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:51 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
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 27, 2:56 PM MDT | Hail 0.75 | Golden, CO | |
| Aug 27, 3:12 PM MDT | Hail 1.75 | Golden, CO |
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.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 27, 2:40 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 5 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Denver, CO (KDNR), launched 12:00Z, 8.9 hours before the alert went out and 177 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 88 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -195 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 881 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 44 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 127 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 165 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.4
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
081 WFUS55 KBOU 272052 TORDEN COC059-272130- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 251 PM MDT TUE AUG 27 2002 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WARNING FOR... CENTRAL JEFFERSON COUNTY IN NORTHEAST COLORADO * UNTIL 330 PM MDT * AT 251 PM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A THUNDERSTORM WITH A POSSIBLE TORNADO 4 MILES NORTHEAST OF BERGEN PARK...OR ABOUT 18 MILES WEST OF DENVER...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 15 MPH. LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE...BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO...WESTERN ARVADA...GOLDEN...WESTERN LAKEWOOD...WESTERN WHEAT RIDGE...BERGEN PARK...EVERGREEN...IDLEDALE...INDIAN HILLS...KITTREDGE...MORRISON... RED ROCKS PARK...TINY TOWN AND WHITE RANCH OPEN SPACE. 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. THE SAFEST PLACE TO BE DURING A TORNADO IS IN A BASEMENT. GET UNDER A WORKBENCH OR OTHER PIECE OF STURDY FURNITURE. IF NO BASEMENT IS AVAILABLE...SEEK SHELTER ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF THE BUILDING IN AN INTERIOR HALLWAY OR ROOM SUCH AS A CLOSET. USE BLANKETS OR PILLOWS TO COVER YOUR BODY AND ALWAYS STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS. LAT...LON 3984 10539 3953 10539 3954 10514 3984 10513 KLEYLA
The office that day
Everything else NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 26, 8:07 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Logan | 53 min |
| Aug 26, 9:05 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Washington | 30 min |
| Aug 26, 10:31 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Larimer | 59 min |
| Aug 26, 10:57 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Larimer, Weld | 63 min |
| Aug 26, 11:58 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Weld | 47 min |
| Aug 27, 12:33 AM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Arapahoe, Douglas, Elbert | 42 min |
| Aug 27, 1:17 AM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Douglas, Elbert | 58 min |
| Aug 27, 2:19 AM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Elbert | 41 min |
| Aug 27, 2:09 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Gilpin | 51 min |
| Aug 27, 2:28 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Jefferson | 47 min |
| Aug 27, 3:18 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | BOU | Arapahoe, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson | 42 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Colorado, 2002Every tornado warning in 2002Tornadoes in 2002
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.