Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Watches in 2004

Tornado Watch 666

July 22, 200415 counties in Colorado; 5 counties in Kansas

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 22, 2004, 1:35 PM MDT for 15 counties in Colorado; 5 counties in Kansas. It was in force for 4 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Jul 22, 2004, 1:35 PM MDT (19:35 UTC)
Expired: Jul 22, 2004, 6:00 PM MDT
In force: 4 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Adams County, CO, Arapahoe County, CO, Bent County, CO, Cheyenne County, CO, Crowley County, CO, El Paso County, CO, Elbert County, CO, Kiowa County, CO, Kit Carson County, CO, Lincoln County, CO, Otero County, CO, Prowers County, CO, Pueblo County, CO, Washington County, CO, Yuma County, CO, Cheyenne County, KS, Greeley County, KS, Hamilton County, KS, Sherman County, KS, Wallace County, KS

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 101 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:35 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.

Warnings issued inside it

14 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 22, 1:50 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Elbert	40 min
Jul 22, 1:56 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	El Paso	64 min
Jul 22, 2:07 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Cheyenne	53 min
Jul 22, 2:58 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Cheyenne	32 min
Jul 22, 2:59 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	El Paso	61 min
Jul 22, 3:03 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Sherman	87 min
Jul 22, 3:32 PM MDT	Tornado Warning	BOU	Lincoln	43 min
Jul 22, 3:52 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	Pueblo	53 min
Jul 22, 4:05 PM MDT	Flash Flood Warning	BOU	Lincoln	2 hr
Jul 22, 4:07 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Sherman	23 min
Jul 22, 4:28 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Sherman	32 min
Jul 22, 4:50 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Kit Carson	55 min
Jul 22, 5:03 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Wallace	57 min
Jul 22, 5:07 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	Kiowa	53 min

Discussions around it

SPC mesoscale discussions over the same counties from four hours before the watch to its end.

The nearest sounding before it

Denver, CO (KDNR), launched 12:00Z, 7.6 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-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: 12 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -330 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2129 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 8 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 9 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 
WWUS20 KWNS 221932
SEL6  
SPC WW 221935
COZ000-KSZ000-NEZ000-230000-

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 666
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
235 PM CDT THU JUL 22 2004

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF 

       EASTERN COLORADO
       FAR WESTERN KANSAS
       SMALL PART OF SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA

EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 235 PM UNTIL
700 PM CDT.

TORNADOES...HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS
TO 70 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

THE TORNADO WATCH AREA IS ALONG AND 85 STATUTE MILES EAST AND WEST
OF A LINE FROM 65 MILES NORTH NORTHEAST OF LIMON COLORADO TO 30
MILES SOUTHEAST OF LA JUNTA COLORADO.

REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR
TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA.
PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING
WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE
WARNINGS.

OTHER WATCH INFORMATION...CONTINUE...WW 665...

DISCUSSION...STRONG UPSLOPE ENHANCING SHEAR PROFILES FRONT RANGE
WHERE AIR MASS MODERATELY UNSTABLE.  CONDITIONS FAVORABLE FOR
SUPERCELLS WHICH WILL ENHANCE LARGE HAIL AND ISOLATED TORNADO
POTENTIAL.

AVIATION...TORNADOES AND A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH HAIL
SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND
GUSTS TO 60 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.
MEAN STORM MOTION VECTOR 27020.


...HALES

400,1013 374,1013 374,1044 400,1044

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 22, 11:29 AM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and 5 more	2 hr
Jul 22, 2:48 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Arapahoe, Bent, Cheyenne, Crowley, Elbert and 9 more	87 min
Jul 22, 5:34 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Bent, Cheyenne, Crowley, Kiowa, Kit Carson, Otero and 2 more	26 min
Jul 22, 4:05 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Barton, Clark, Edwards, Ellsworth, Ford, Grant and 18 more	85 min
Jul 22, 5:08 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allen, Anderson, Bourbon, Coffey, Douglas, Franklin and 6 more	97 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Colorado, 2004 Tornado Watches in Kansas, 2004 Every tornado watch in 2004

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.