Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Watches in 2015
Tornado Watch 195
The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at May 23, 2015, 12:54 PM MDT for 29 counties in Colorado. It was in force for 6 hr.
The area
The outline as issued.
The facts
- Issued
- May 23, 2015, 12:54 PM MDT (18:54 UTC)
- Expired
- May 23, 2015, 7:00 PM MDT
- In force
- 6 hr
- Issued by
- the Storm Prediction Center
- Largest hail expected
- 1.5 in
- Strongest gust expected
- 55 kt
All 29 counties
Adams County, CO, Arapahoe County, CO, Baca County, CO, Bent County, CO, Boulder County, CO, Broomfield County, CO, Cheyenne County, CO, Crowley County, CO, Denver County, CO, Douglas County, CO, El Paso County, CO, Elbert County, CO, Jefferson County, CO, Kiowa County, CO, Kit Carson County, CO, Larimer County, CO, Las Animas County, CO, Lincoln County, CO, Logan County, CO, Morgan County, CO, Otero County, CO, Phillips County, CO, Prowers County, CO, Pueblo County, CO, Sedgwick County, CO, Teller County, CO, Washington County, CO, Weld County, CO, Yuma County, CO
The radar
The Denver radar (KFTG), 71 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:55 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
- 10%
- Ten or more severe wind reports
- 30%
- One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
- 10%
- Ten or more severe hail reports
- 30%
- One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
- 10%
- Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
- 70%
Warnings issued inside it
7 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 23, 1:09 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PUB | Crowley, Otero, Pueblo | 36 min |
| May 23, 1:22 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | PUB | Bent, Crowley, Kiowa, Otero, Pueblo | 38 min |
| May 23, 1:35 PM MDT | Tornado Warning | PUB | Bent, Otero | 25 min |
| May 23, 2:19 PM MDT | Flash Flood Warning | PUB | Otero | 3 hr |
| May 23, 2:36 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU | Adams, Arapahoe | 24 min |
| May 23, 3:35 PM MDT | Flash Flood Warning | BOU | Morgan | 3 hr |
| May 23, 4:54 PM MDT | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD | Cheyenne | 51 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 (KDEN), launched 12:00Z, 6.9 hours before the alert went out and 64 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
- 1 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -241 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 762 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 53 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -18 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 67 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 23, 12:27 PM MDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Arapahoe, Bent, Cheyenne, Crowley, Douglas and 10 more | 2 hr |
| May 23, 4:11 PM MDT | Mesoscale Discussion | SPC | Adams, Arapahoe, Baca, Bent, Cheyenne, Crowley and 12 more | 2 hr |
Nearby
Tornado Watches in Colorado, 2015Every tornado watch in 2015
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.