Severe Storm Strikes Teller County - June 28th, 2009

Overview (Work in Progress)

A storm moved into Teller County during the early afternoon and moved east southeast toward Woodland Park. The storm had intense reflectivity and shows signs of rotation...

At 2:47 p.m....The National Weather Service in Pueblo issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for portions of Teller and El Paso Counties.

At 2:50 p.m. reflectivity (precipitation intensity)...was forming into a hook shape.

At 2:50 p.m....winds within the storm...bright green indicates strong winds toward the radar...bright red indicates strong winds away from the radar. The Doppler Radar is toward the lower right side of the image. The storm was rotating counterclockwise.

At 2:55 p.m....the reflectivity intensifies...indicated by the purple color.
and the rotation intensifies as well...

At 2:57 p.m....The National Weather Service in Pueblo issued a Tornado Warning for portions of Teller and El Paso Counties...based on the rapid rotation of the storm.

At 2:59 p.m....high reflectivities indicate very heavy rain and severe hail (around one inch in diameter).
Severe winds (greater than 60 mph) crossed highway 67 a couple miles north of Woodland Park...taking down some trees...and causing a power outage.
At 3:04 p.m....the storm continued to move east southeast...and the heavy rain and hail continued... and the rotation was quite evident...

As the storm moved down Ute Pass...a funnel cloud was reported near Cascade...but no tornado occurred.

As the storm moved in Colorado Springs...it encountered a more stable atmosphere...and began to diminish. However...there was still hail up to 1/2 inch in diameter...and wind gusts to around 50 mph. Through time...those gusty winds spread south in the I-25 corridor and throughout much of southeast Colorado.

The is a great example of how the Doppler Radar shows the NWS warning forecaster the precipitation intensity and rotation of a thunderstorm...and aids in the issuance of timely severe weather warnings.

Tom Magnuson, Warning Coordination Meteorologist...NWS Pueblo (Adapted to standardized format by Klint Skelly, Intern Meteorologist)

Base Reflectivity and Base Velocity Radar Volume Scans of the Severe Weather Event

Environment

Environment

Insert synoptic summary.


Figure 1: Caption	Figure 2: Caption	Figure 3: Caption

Near-storm environment summary.


Figure 4: Caption	Figure 5: Caption	Figure 6: Caption

Additional environmental data.


Figure 7: Caption	Figure 8: Caption	Figure 9: Caption

Media use of NWS Web News Stories is encouraged!
Please acknowledge the NWS as the source of any news information accessed from this site.