Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Watches in 2005

Tornado Watch 321

May 24, 200514 counties in Colorado

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 24, 2005, 12:45 PM MDT for 14 counties in Colorado. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
May 24, 2005, 12:45 PM MDT (18:45 UTC)
Expired
May 24, 2005, 8:00 PM MDT
In force
7 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center

Counties Adams County, CO, Arapahoe County, CO, Broomfield County, CO, Denver County, CO, Douglas County, CO, Elbert County, CO, Kit Carson County, CO, Logan County, CO, Morgan County, CO, Phillips County, CO, Sedgwick County, CO, Washington County, CO, Weld County, CO, Yuma County, CO

The radar

The Denver radar (KFTG), 117 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:49 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

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 24, 1:29 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUAdams23 min
May 24, 1:30 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUArapahoe, Elbert45 min
May 24, 2:13 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUMorgan, Weld62 min
May 24, 2:27 PM MDTTornado WarningBOULogan, Morgan, Weld48 min
May 24, 2:51 PM MDTTornado WarningBOUMorgan, Washington39 min
May 24, 3:26 PM MDTTornado WarningBOUWashington49 min
May 24, 3:49 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDYuma56 min
May 24, 4:15 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUWashington24 min
May 24, 4:40 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDYuma51 min
May 24, 5:03 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDKit Carson20 min
May 24, 5:16 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDKit Carson59 min
May 24, 5:24 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUAdams, Denver, Jefferson32 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, 6.8 hours before the alert went out and 43 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 2005-05-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 73 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 2005-05-24The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 17 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
73 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-398 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1712 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
17 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
22 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 23, 8:38 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBaca, Bent, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Kit Carson, Lincoln and 2 more67 min
May 24, 12:03 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Cheyenne, Crowley, Denver and 14 more117 min
May 24, 1:10 PM MDTTornado WatchSPCAdams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, Elbert and 8 more7 hr
May 24, 1:45 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBaca, Bent, Cheyenne, Crowley, El Paso, Huerfano and 6 more6 hr
May 24, 4:13 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, Elbert and 8 more92 min

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Colorado, 2005Every tornado watch in 2005

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.