Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Watches in 2009
Tornado Watch 598
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 17, 2009, 2:53 PM MDT for 7 counties in Colorado. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- Jul 17, 2009, 2:53 PM MDT (20:53 UTC)
- Expired
- Jul 17, 2009, 8:28 PM MDT
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 3 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 60 kt
Counties Baca County, CO, Bent County, CO, Crowley County, CO, Kiowa County, CO, Las Animas County, CO, Otero County, CO, Prowers County, CO
The radar
The Pueblo radar (KPUX), 82 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:55 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 SPC expected
The probabilities SPC published with the watch, for the watch area over its life.
- Two or more tornadoes
- 40%
- One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
- 20%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 20%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 30%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 30%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 50%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 80%
Warnings issued inside it
5 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 17, 4:31 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PUB | Kiowa | 89 min |
| Jul 17, 5:18 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PUB | Bent, Kiowa, Prowers | 57 min |
| Jul 17, 6:13 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | PUB | Bent, Prowers | 53 min |
| Jul 17, 6:41 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | PUB | Baca, Bent, Las Animas | 64 min |
| Jul 17, 7:33 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PUB | Baca, Las Animas | 57 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, 8.9 hours before the alert went out and 206 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
- 332 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -338 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1821 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 38 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -14 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 50 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
SPC that day
Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 17, 12:06 PM MDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Arapahoe, Cheyenne, Elbert, Kit Carson, Lincoln and 5 more | 84 min |
| Jul 17, 12:59 PM MDT | Tornado Watch | SPC | Adams, Arapahoe, Cheyenne, Elbert, Kit Carson, Lincoln and 7 more | 6 hr |
| Jul 17, 1:21 PM MDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Baca, Prowers | 54 min |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Colorado, 2009Every tornado watch 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.