Alert archive / Colorado / Red Flag Warnings in 2009

Red Flag Warning 3, NWS Pueblo, CO

January 31, 2009Baca County, Colorado

NWS Pueblo, CO issued this red flag warning at Jan 31, 2009, 3:22 AM MST for Baca County, Colorado. It took effect at Jan 31, 2009, 10:00 AM MST. It was in force for 5 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jan 31, 2009, 3:22 AM MST (10:22 UTC)
In effect from: Jan 31, 2009, 10:00 AM MST
Expired: Jan 31, 2009, 2:46 PM MST
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: NWS Pueblo, CO

County Baca County, CO

The radar

The Pueblo radar (KPUX), 191 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 10:25 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

Dodge City, (KDDC), launched 00:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 240 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: 2857 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 73 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 158 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 
WWUS85 KPUB 311022
RFWPUB

URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
322 AM MST SAT JAN 31 2009

...A RED FLAG WARNING FOR WIND GUSTS GREATER THAN 25 MPH...HUMIDITY
VALUES 5 TO 15 PERCENT...UNSEASONABLY WARM TEMPERATURES...HAINES
OF 5...AND MODERATE DROUGHT FUELS...HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR SATURDAY
LATE MORNING AND AFTERNOON...1000 LOCAL THROUGH 1700 LOCAL...FOR
FIRE WEATHER ZONE 237 INCLUDING BACA COUNTY AND THE COMANCHE
GRASSLANDS...

.THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PUEBLO...IN COORDINATION WITH THE
AREA LAND MANAGEMENT AGENCIES...HAS ISSUED A RED FLAG WARNING.
RELATIVELY WARM AND DRY WEST TO NORTHWEST FLOW WILL CONTINUE OVER
COLORADO TODAY.

COZ237-010000-
/O.NEW.KPUB.FW.W.0003.090131T1700Z-090201T0000Z/
BACA COUNTY-
322 AM MST SAT JAN 31 2009

...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM THIS MORNING TO 5 PM MST
THIS AFTERNOON...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PUEBLO HAS ISSUED A RED FLAG
WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM THIS MORNING TO 5 PM MST
THIS AFTERNOON. 

THIS WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR BACA COUNTY INCLUDING THE COMANCHE
GRASSLANDS. 

THE COMBINATION OF UNSEASONABLY WARM TEMPERATURES...WIND GUSTS
GREATER THAN 25 MPH...HUMIDITY VALUES 5 TO 15 PERCENT...HAINES
VALUE OF 5...AND MODERATE DROUGHT CONDITIONS WILL LEAD TO ERRATIC
FIRE BEHAVIOR...IF FIRES WERE TO START...ACROSS BACA COUNTY LATER
THIS MORNING THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. 

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS
ARE EITHER OCCURRING NOW...OR WILL SHORTLY. A COMBINATION OF
WINDY CONDITIONS...LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY...AND WARM TEMPERATURES
WILL CREATE EXPLOSIVE FIRE GROWTH POTENTIAL.

&&

$$

METZE

1 follow-up statement

000 
WWUS85 KPUB 312146
RFWPUB

URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PUEBLO CO
246 PM MST SAT JAN 31 2009

...RED FLAG WARNING CANCELLED FOR FIRE WEATHER ZONE 237 INCLUDING
BACA COUNTY AND THE COMANCHE GRASSLANDS...


COZ237-312300-
/O.CAN.KPUB.FW.W.0003.000000T0000Z-090201T0000Z/
BACA COUNTY-
246 PM MST SAT JAN 31 2009

...RED FLAG WARNING IS CANCELLED...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PUEBLO HAS CANCELLED THE RED FLAG
WARNING.

THE RED FLAG WARNING WHICH WAS IN EFFECT FOR FIRE WEATHER ZONE
237 INCLUDING BACA COUNTY AND THE COMANCHE GRASSLANDS...HAS BEEN
CANCELLED. NORTH TO NORTHWEST WINDS WILL REMAIN BETWEEN 10 AND 20
MPH THROUGH THE REST OF THE AFTERNOON AS TEMPERATURES COOL AND
HUMIDITIES RISE INTO THE EARLY EVENING. 

$$

Nearby

Red Flag Warnings in Colorado, 2009 Every red flag warning in 2009

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.