Alert archive / Colorado / Severe Thunderstorm Watches in 2012

Severe Thunderstorm Watch 193

April 26, 20125 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this severe thunderstorm watch at Apr 26, 2012, 9:00 PM MDT for 5 states. It took effect at Apr 26, 2012, 9:05 PM MDT. It was in force for 7 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued: Apr 26, 2012, 9:00 PM MDT (03:00 UTC)
In effect from: Apr 26, 2012, 9:05 PM MDT
Expired: Apr 27, 2012, 4:00 AM MDT
In force: 7 hr
Issued by: the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected: 1.5 in
Strongest gust expected: 60 kt

All 40 counties

Baca County, CO, Bent County, CO, Cheyenne County, CO, Crowley County, CO, Elbert County, CO, Kiowa County, CO, Kit Carson County, CO, Las Animas County, CO, Lincoln County, CO, Logan County, CO, Morgan County, CO, Otero County, CO, Phillips County, CO, Prowers County, CO, Sedgwick County, CO, Washington County, CO, Yuma County, CO, Cheyenne County, KS, Grant County, KS, Greeley County, KS, Hamilton County, KS, Kearny County, KS, Logan County, KS, Morton County, KS, Rawlins County, KS, Sherman County, KS, Stanton County, KS, Stevens County, KS, Thomas County, KS, Wallace County, KS, Wichita County, KS, Union County, NM, Cimarron County, OK, Texas County, OK, Dallam County, TX, Hansford County, TX, Hartley County, TX, Hutchinson County, TX, Moore County, TX, Sherman County, TX

The radar

The Pueblo radar (KPUX), 107 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:04 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: 20%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes: 5%
Ten or more severe wind reports: 40%
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: 20%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports: 80%

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
Apr 26, 10:01 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	AMA	Cimarron	31 min
Apr 26, 10:46 PM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	Baca	22 min
Apr 27, 12:22 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	Baca, Bent, Las Animas, Otero	53 min
Apr 27, 12:46 AM MDT	Tornado Warning	PUB	Baca	26 min
Apr 27, 1:09 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PUB	Baca, Bent, Prowers	51 min
Apr 27, 1:25 AM MDT	Tornado Warning	PUB	Bent, Prowers	50 min
Apr 27, 1:43 AM MDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	GLD	Cheyenne, Kit Carson	47 min
Apr 27, 1:44 AM MDT	Tornado Warning	PUB	Bent, Kiowa, Prowers	19 min
Apr 27, 1:55 AM MDT	Tornado Warning	PUB	Bent, Prowers	50 min
Apr 27, 2:18 AM MDT	Tornado Warning	GLD	Cheyenne, Kit Carson	27 min
Apr 27, 2:21 AM MDT	Tornado Warning	PUB	Kiowa, Prowers	39 min
Apr 27, 2:43 AM MDT	Tornado Warning	PUB	Kiowa, Prowers	32 min
Apr 27, 2:56 AM MDT	Tornado Warning	PUB	Kiowa	13 min
Apr 27, 2:59 AM MDT	Tornado Warning	GLD	Cheyenne	31 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 00:00Z, 3.0 hours before the alert went out and 112 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: 95 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -85 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2538 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 42 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 175 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: -0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 26, 8:41 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Adams, Arapahoe, Baca, Bent, Broomfield, Cheyenne and 21 more	2 hr
Apr 27, 1:24 AM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Baca, Bent, Cheyenne, Crowley, Kiowa, Kit Carson and 7 more	2 hr
Apr 27, 3:43 AM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Cheyenne, Kit Carson, Yuma	32 min
Apr 27, 5:16 AM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allen, Anderson, Bourbon, Butler, Chase, Coffey and 22 more	59 min
Apr 27, 9:15 AM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Barber, Barton, Butler, Cowley, Dickinson, Ellis and 21 more	2 hr
Apr 27, 12:29 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allen, Anderson, Bourbon, Butler, Chase, Chautauqua and 34 more	91 min
Apr 27, 1:11 PM MDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	Allen, Anderson, Bourbon, Butler, Chase, Chautauqua and 46 more	7 hr
Apr 27, 2:44 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allen, Anderson, Butler, Chase, Chautauqua, Clay and 22 more	61 min
Apr 27, 5:07 PM MDT	Mesoscale Discussion	SPC	Allen, Anderson, Atchison, Bourbon, Brown, Cherokee and 32 more	113 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Colorado, 2012 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Kansas, 2012 Severe Thunderstorm Watches in Texas, 2012 Every severe thunderstorm watch in 2012

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.