Alert archive / Colorado / Red Flag Warnings in 2011

Red Flag Warning 18, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO

May 31, 2011Park County, Colorado

NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this red flag warning at May 31, 2011, 3:04 AM MDT for Park County, Colorado. It took effect at May 31, 2011, 12:00 PM MDT. It was in force for 4 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
May 31, 2011, 3:04 AM MDT (09:04 UTC)
In effect from
May 31, 2011, 12:00 PM MDT
Expired
May 31, 2011, 3:54 PM MDT
In force
4 hr
Issued by
NWS Denver/Boulder, CO

County Park County, CO

The radar

The Denver radar (KFTG), 125 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 09:05 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

Denver, CO (KDNR), launched 00:00Z, 9.1 hours before the alert went out and 229 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 00:00Z on 2011-05-31Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 00:00Z on 2011-05-31The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -46 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
4309 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-46 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
60 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.

874 
WWUS85 KBOU 310904
RFWBOU

URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
304 AM MDT TUE MAY 31 2011

...FIRE DANGER INCREASING TODAY...

.WARMER AND VERY DRY AIR WILL BE MOVING OVER COLORADO TODAY. THIS
WILL PRODUCE VERY HIGH TO EXTREME FIRE DANGER OVER SOUTH PARK
TODAY. THE FIRE DANGER WILL ALSO BE ELEVATED ON THE PLAINS SOUTH
OF INTERSTATE 70 WHICH RECEIVED LESS RAIN THAN NORTHEASTERN
COLORADO DID IN MAY.

COZ214-312200-
/O.NEW.KBOU.FW.W.0018.110531T1800Z-110601T0200Z/
CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST PARK COUNTY-
304 AM MDT TUE MAY 31 2011

...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 8 PM MDT THIS
EVENING FOR GUSTY WINDS AND LOW HUMIDITY FOR FIRE WEATHER ZONE
214...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A RED FLAG
WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 8 PM MDT THIS
EVENING. 

* AFFECTED AREA...FIRE WEATHER ZONE 214...ELEVEN MILE CANYON 
  RESERVOIR...FAIRPLAY...GUFFEY...HARTSEL...LAKE GEORGE...SOUTH 
  PARK.

* TIMING...HUMIDITIES WILL DROP INTO THE SINGLE DIGITS BY MIDDAY
  AND GUSTY WINDS WILL DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON. CONDITIONS WILL
  IMPROVE THIS EVENING.

* WIND...BECOMING SOUTHWEST 12 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 30 MPH THIS
  AFTERNOON.

* HUMIDITY...LOWERING TO 3 TO 7 PERCENT.

* IMPACTS...FIRES WILL START EASILY AND SPREAD RAPIDLY.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS
ARE EITHER OCCURRING OR IMMINENT. PLEASE ADVISE THE APPROPRIATE
OFFICIALS AND FIRE CREWS IN THE FIELD OF THIS RED FLAG WARNING.

&&

$$

GIMMESTAD
1 follow-up statement
270 
WWUS85 KBOU 312154
RFWBOU

URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
354 PM MDT TUE MAY 31 2011

COZ214-312300-
/O.CAN.KBOU.FW.W.0018.000000T0000Z-110601T0200Z/
CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST PARK COUNTY-
354 PM MDT TUE MAY 31 2011

...RED FLAG WARNING IS CANCELLED FOR FIRE WEATHER ZONE 214...

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

WINDS WILL DIMINISH THIS EVENING AS TEMPERATURES DECREASE. WITH
HIGHER RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES OVERNIGHT...THE THREAT OF
DANGEROUS FIRE WEATHER BEHAVIOR IN PARK COUNTY WILL COME TO AN
END.

$$

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
May 30, 8:27 PM MDTAreal Flood AdvisoryBOUJackson67 hr

Nearby

Red Flag Warnings in Colorado, 2011Every red flag warning in 2011

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.