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<br /> <br />a State Highway Patrol office in Denver. <br /> <br />The last face-to-face contact that personnel at WSFO Denver had with local <br />officials in Larimer County occurred in April 1974. The April 1975 annual <br />visit to recruit and train storm spotters for the upcoming severe thunder- <br />storm season did not take place due to a severe travel fund restriction then <br />in effect. A telephone call from WSFO Denver was made to the Larimer County <br />Sheriff's office, eliciting a map of county storm spotters. There was no <br />contact with county officials in 1976. The reasons for this situation given <br />by the Meteorologist-in-Charge at WSFO Denver was a lack of travel funds and <br />a personnel shortage. The survey team found that there were fiscal year 1976 <br />travel funds available which were not spent as of August 1, 1976, and that <br />there were extra scheduled shifts available in WSFO Denver which could have <br />been used for the purpose of travel for disaster preparedness and recruiting <br />of cooperative observers. <br /> <br />The survey team found that the cooperative observer and spotter networks in <br />the disaster area had not received adequate attention over the past two years <br />and that potential sources of rainfall and river conditions which had been in <br />existence for long periods of time had not been contacted by WSFO Denver or <br />other NWS personnel to obtain cooperative reports. <br /> <br />Upper Air Reports <br /> <br />Denver is a rawinsonde station in the national network. Observations are <br />made routinely at Denver at 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Data from the national <br />network are utilized in synoptic-scale analyses and prognoses by the <br />National Meteorological Center. The National Severe Storms Forecast Center <br />uses the data in its smaller scale analyses and severe thunderstorm watches. <br />At WSFO Denver, the local rawinsonde observation is plotted and displayed for <br />forecaster use. During the summer months, observations are also plotted for <br />Amarillo, Albuquerque, Winslow, Salt Lake City, Grand Junction, and Lander. <br />Upper air observations were taken and disseminated without problems on <br />July 31, 1976. Figure 6 is a plot of the Denver soundings made on July 31. <br />They are characterized by conditionally unstable lapse rates and much higher <br />than normal water vapor content. Light winds aloft were reported. <br /> <br />Weather Radar <br /> <br />Weather radar coverage of eastern Colorado is provided by the WSR-57 radar <br />at Limon. WSMO Limon is an independent office operating directly under the <br />Central Region Headquarters. WSFO Denver has no formal administrative or <br />operational responsibility for or control over WSMO Limon. The Limon radar, <br />which is located about 65 miles (105 km) southeast of Denver, was activated <br />in June 1970. Limon was chosen as the site for the radar to provide <br />support for the public forecasts and warnings to population centers in <br />eastern Colorado. <br /> <br />The Big Thompson Canyon is within range of this radar. Estes Park is located <br />at 3100/111 nautical miles (206 km) and Drake at 3150/106 nautical miles <br />(196 km) from Limon. (See figure 7 for copy of radar overlay.) The radar <br /> <br />11 <br />