Alert archive / Colorado / Tornado Watches in 2018

Tornado Watch 315

July 27, 20184 states

The Storm Prediction Center issued this tornado watch at Jul 27, 2018, 1:04 PM MDT for 4 states. It was in force for 8 hr.

The area

The outline as issued.

The facts

Issued
Jul 27, 2018, 1:04 PM MDT (19:04 UTC)
Expired
Jul 27, 2018, 9:00 PM MDT
In force
8 hr
Issued by
the Storm Prediction Center
Largest hail expected
2.5 in
Strongest gust expected
70 kt
All 45 counties

Adams County, CO, Arapahoe County, CO, Cheyenne County, CO, Elbert County, CO, Kit Carson County, CO, Larimer County, CO, Lincoln County, CO, Logan County, CO, Morgan County, CO, Phillips County, CO, Sedgwick County, CO, Washington County, CO, Weld County, CO, Yuma County, CO, Cheyenne County, KS, Decatur County, KS, Gove County, KS, Graham County, KS, Greeley County, KS, Logan County, KS, Norton County, KS, Rawlins County, KS, Sheridan County, KS, Sherman County, KS, Thomas County, KS, Wallace County, KS, Wichita County, KS, Banner County, NE, Chase County, NE, Cheyenne County, NE, Deuel County, NE, Dundy County, NE, Hayes County, NE, Hitchcock County, NE, Kimball County, NE, Morrill County, NE, Perkins County, NE, Red Willow County, NE, Scotts Bluff County, NE, Albany County, WY, Converse County, WY, Goshen County, WY, Laramie County, WY, Niobrara County, WY, Platte County, WY

The radar

The Cheyenne radar (KCYS), 118 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:06 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
60%
One or more EF2 to EF5 tornadoes
20%
Ten or more severe wind reports
70%
One or more gusts of 65 knots or more
70%
Ten or more severe hail reports
70%
One or more hailstones of 2 inches or more
70%
Six or more combined severe hail and wind reports
95%

Warnings issued inside it

47 tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings for its counties while it was in force.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 27, 1:08 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSCheyenne25 min
Jul 27, 1:53 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUPhillips, Sedgwick52 min
Jul 27, 2:24 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSAlbany, Laramie51 min
Jul 27, 2:33 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDYuma42 min
Jul 27, 2:38 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDDundy, Hitchcock21 min
Jul 27, 2:56 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDGraham30 min
Jul 27, 2:58 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDYuma47 min
Jul 27, 2:58 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSLaramie24 min
Jul 27, 3:08 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUElbert37 min
Jul 27, 3:23 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDYuma52 min
Jul 27, 3:26 PM MDTTornado WarningBOUMorgan, Weld34 min
Jul 27, 3:43 PM MDTTornado WarningBOUWashington32 min
Jul 27, 3:45 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUAdams, Morgan, Weld25 min
Jul 27, 3:47 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUArapahoe, Elbert43 min
Jul 27, 3:47 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDYuma58 min
Jul 27, 3:50 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDKit Carson40 min
Jul 27, 3:59 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDKit Carson13 min
Jul 27, 4:08 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOUArapahoe, Elbert, Lincoln, Washington41 min
Jul 27, 4:10 PM MDTTornado WarningBOUAdams, Arapahoe35 min
Jul 27, 4:25 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDCheyenne, Sherman65 min
Jul 27, 4:28 PM MDTTornado Warning Tornado observedBOUArapahoe32 min
Jul 27, 4:28 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDKit Carson62 min
Jul 27, 4:35 PM MDTTornado WarningBOUWashington25 min
Jul 27, 4:37 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDKit Carson25 min
Jul 27, 4:57 PM MDTTornado WarningBOULincoln19 min
Jul 27, 4:57 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSAlbany, Laramie33 min
Jul 27, 5:16 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDLogan, Sherman, Wallace44 min
Jul 27, 5:21 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDCheyenne, Kit Carson, Yuma54 min
Jul 27, 5:21 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSConverse39 min
Jul 27, 5:29 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSLaramie46 min
Jul 27, 5:31 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDSherman29 min
Jul 27, 5:34 PM MDTFlash Flood WarningGLDKit Carson, Yuma3 hr
Jul 27, 5:43 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSConverse32 min
Jul 27, 5:56 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOULarimer, Weld34 min
Jul 27, 5:58 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDLogan, Sherman, Wallace47 min
Jul 27, 6:03 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDCheyenne, Kit Carson, Yuma57 min
Jul 27, 6:08 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSAlbany, Converse, Platte52 min
Jul 27, 6:25 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOULincoln50 min
Jul 27, 6:26 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDLogan, Wallace34 min
Jul 27, 6:57 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDCheyenne10 min
Jul 27, 6:58 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDGreeley, Logan, Wallace, Wichita47 min
Jul 27, 7:09 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSAlbany, Platte29 min
Jul 27, 7:34 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLDGreeley, Wichita56 min
Jul 27, 7:54 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDGreeley, Wichita19 min
Jul 27, 7:56 PM MDTTornado WarningGLDWichita23 min
Jul 27, 8:01 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSConverse29 min
Jul 27, 8:25 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WarningCYSConverse50 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, 7.1 hours before the alert went out and 113 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 12:00Z on 2018-07-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 735 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 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 12:00Z on 2018-07-27The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 13 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
735 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-87 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
574 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
13 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
91 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
1.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

SPC that day

Everything else SPC issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 26, 6:07 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Cheyenne, Crowley and 18 more113 min
Jul 26, 8:53 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCProwers2 hr
Jul 27, 12:35 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCAdams, Kit Carson, Logan, Morgan, Phillips, Sedgwick and 3 more85 min
Jul 27, 2:52 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBent, Cheyenne, Crowley, Elbert, El Paso, Huerfano and 8 more83 min
Jul 27, 3:43 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBaca, Bent, Crowley, El Paso, Huerfano, Kiowa and 4 more5 hr
Jul 27, 5:23 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCCheyenne97 min
Jul 27, 4:05 PM MDTSevere Thunderstorm WatchSPCBarber, Barton, Clark, Comanche, Edwards, Ellis and 25 more9 hr
Jul 27, 4:55 PM MDTMesoscale DiscussionSPCBlaine, Brown, Cherry, Custer, Dawes, Dawson and 11 more2 hr

Nearby

Tornado Watches in Colorado, 2018Tornado Watches in Kansas, 2018Tornado Watches in Nebraska, 2018Every tornado watch in 2018

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.