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<br /> <br />KHOW <br />Denver <br /> <br />The news director for KHOW does the weekend weather for <br />KBTV-TV, Denver's Channel 9. He said that at KBTV-TV they had <br />been receiving thunderstorm warnings on NWWS. A message was <br />received from WSMO Limon indicating severe thunderstorm <br />approximately ten miles west of Fort Collins. An hour later, <br />he saw another radar report and noted that the storm had not <br />moved eastward as they usually do. Just before 10:00 p.m., <br />a KHOW stringer in Loveland, called in to report a "terrific <br />storm," with slides, river rising, and butane tanks floating <br />downstream. The news director sent him into the flood area <br />and sent out another reporter from KHOW. The station ran <br />warnings of severe thunderstorm and possible flooding at the <br />top of their 10:00 p.m. news and at 10:20 p.m. ran a radio <br />interview, with one of their people in the flood area saying <br />that the road was blocked and partially washed away. <br /> <br />KBTV-TV <br />Denver <br /> <br />KLZ <br />Denver <br /> <br />Their recollection is that all the NWS messages were aired as <br />they came in. <br /> <br />KIMN <br />Denver <br /> <br />The person on duty Saturday night in the newsroom said that <br />they had thunderstorm warnings coming in on NWWS and aired <br />them as they came in, reading the text off the wire. Then, at <br />about 8:00 p.m., they heard that the Larimer County sheriff's <br />office was calling all its people to duty and that, as a <br />precautionary measure, they were being moved up into the canyon <br />areas, where high water had been reported. They followed the <br />sheriff's activities to find out what was happening and ran <br />their first story shortly thereafter, based mainly on what <br />they had from the sheriff's office. This person also pointed <br />out that the METS arrangement would have been a good way to <br />get the word on the storm out. <br /> <br />These stations have NOAA Weather Wire, but go off the air at sunset: <br /> <br />KLOV Loveland <br />KUAD Windsor <br />KIIX Fort Collins <br /> <br />KCOL radio in Fort Collins, close to the scene, has no weather wire because <br />they get their weather data from the "Fort Collins Weather Service," a <br />private meteorological service located in Fort Collins. Meteorologists <br />John Henz and Vince Scheetz go on the air four times a day--at 6:25 a.m., <br />7:25 a.m., noon, and 5:25 p.m. Friday evening their forecast called for <br />extensive mountain thunderstorms and the threat of flash floods. On <br />Saturday their forecasts added a warning of heavy downpours with amounts <br />up to 1 inch. On Saturday evening their broadcast noted that radar was <br />reporting thunderstorm tops reaching nearly 50,000 feet, and that the slow <br />movement of the storms makes them "potentially dangerous due to the heavy <br />rains being confined over such a small area. The potential for flash <br />flooding in downstream areas, even along small washes and dry creek beds, <br /> <br />36 <br />