Alert archive / Colorado / Red Flag Warnings in 2017

Red Flag Warning 1, NWS Denver/Boulder, CO

February 6, 2017Elbert County, Lincoln County, Colorado

NWS Denver/Boulder, CO issued this red flag warning at Feb 6, 2017, 8:37 AM MST for Elbert County, Lincoln County, Colorado. It took effect at Feb 6, 2017, 12:00 PM 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: Feb 6, 2017, 8:37 AM MST (15:37 UTC)
In effect from: Feb 6, 2017, 12:00 PM MST
Expired: Feb 6, 2017, 5:00 PM MST
In force: 5 hr
Issued by: NWS Denver/Boulder, CO

Counties Elbert County, CO, Lincoln County, CO

The radar

The Pueblo radar (KPUX), 81 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 15:41 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 (KDEN), launched 12:00Z, 3.6 hours before the alert went out and 96 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: 3367 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 2 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 49 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted.

319 
WWUS85 KBOU 061537
RFWBOU

URGENT - FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER/BOULDER CO
837 AM MST MON FEB 6 2017

...LOW HUMIDITY AND GUSTY WINDS ACROSS THE EAST CENTRAL PLAINS OF
COLORADO...


COZ247-070000-
/O.NEW.KBOU.FW.W.0001.170206T1900Z-170207T0000Z/
SOUTHEAST ELBERT COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/SOUTH LINCOLN COUNTY-
837 AM MST MON FEB 6 2017

...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 5 PM MST THIS
AFTERNOON FOR WIND AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR SOUTHEASTERN
ELBERT AND SOUTHERN LINCOLN COUNTIES...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN DENVER HAS ISSUED A RED FLAG
WARNING FOR WIND AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT
FROM NOON TODAY TO 5 PM MST THIS AFTERNOON.

* AFFECTED AREA...FIRE WEATHER ZONE 247.

* TIMING...WINDS WILL INCREASE AFTER 10 AM THIS MORNING WITH
  HUMIDITIES DROPPING BELOW 15 PERCENT AROUND NOON. CONDITIONS
  WILL IMPROVE AFTER 5 PM. 

* WINDS...NORTHWEST 10 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 30 MPH.

* RELATIVE HUMIDITY...AS LOW AS 14 PERCENT.

* IMPACTS...IF A FIRE SHOULD START, IT WILL BE CAPABLE OF
  SPREADING RAPIDLY THROUGH GRASSES DUE TO NORTHWESTERLY STRONG 
  WINDS.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS
ARE EITHER OCCURRING NOW....OR WILL SHORTLY. A COMBINATION OF
STRONG WINDS...LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY...AND WARM TEMPERATURES CAN
CONTRIBUTE TO EXTREME FIRE BEHAVIOR.

&&

$$

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Feb 6, 4:58 AM MST	Winter Storm Warning	BOU	Boulder, Clear Creek, Gilpin, Grand, Jackson, Jefferson and 3 more	55 hr

Nearby

Red Flag Warnings in Colorado, 2017 Every red flag warning in 2017

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.