Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Warnings in 2002

Tornado Warning 5, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO

June 3, 2002Morgan County, Colorado

NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this tornado warning at Jun 3, 2002, 4:51 PM MDT for Morgan County, Colorado. It was in force for 39 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jun 3, 2002, 4:51 PM MDT (22:51 UTC)
Expired: Jun 3, 2002, 5:30 PM MDT
In force: 39 min
Issued by: NWS Denver/Boulder, CO
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Morgan County, CO

The radar

The Denver radar (KFTG), 75 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:53 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Jun 3, 2:00 PM MDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	6 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Denver, CO (KDNR), launched 12:00Z, 10.9 hours before the alert went out and 85 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: 7 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -206 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1224 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 40 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -47 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 263 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 
WFUS55 KBOU 032251
TORDEN
COC087-032330-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
451 PM MDT MON JUN 3 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
  NORTHWESTERN MORGAN COUNTY IN NORTHEAST COLORADO

* UNTIL 530 PM MDT

* AT 451 PM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  THUNDERSTORM WITH A POSSIBLE TORNADO 8 MILES WEST OF WIGGINS...OR
  ABOUT 23 MILES WEST OF FORT MORGAN...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE...BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO...
GOODRICH...JACKSON RESERVOIR...ORCHARD...WELDONA AND WIGGINS.

DO NOT USE YOUR CAR TO TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO. CARS ARE EASILY
TOSSED AROUND BY TORNADO WINDS. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT IN THE PATH OF A
TORNADO...LEAVE THE CAR AND GO TO A STRONG BUILDING. IF NO STRUCTURE
IS NEARBY...SEEK SHELTER IN A DITCH OR LOW SPOT.

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.

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.

LAT...LON 4040 10415 4012 10415 4023 10386 4032 10385
          4053 10400

GIMMESTAD

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jun 3, 1:28 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Elbert	47 min
Jun 3, 2:13 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Elbert, Lincoln	47 min
Jun 3, 2:25 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Douglas	50 min
Jun 3, 2:49 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Arapahoe	41 min
Jun 3, 2:57 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Elbert, Lincoln	48 min
Jun 3, 3:07 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Douglas	38 min
Jun 3, 3:08 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Weld	52 min
Jun 3, 3:15 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Arapahoe	45 min
Jun 3, 3:29 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Lincoln	46 min
Jun 3, 3:48 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Adams, Denver	42 min
Jun 3, 3:58 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Weld	62 min
Jun 3, 4:00 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Arapahoe	45 min
Jun 3, 4:06 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	BOU	Weld	54 min
Jun 3, 5:23 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Morgan	37 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Colorado, 2002 Every tornado warning in 2002 Tornadoes 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; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.