This tornado was situated just north of the airport of Lamar, Colorado. The tornado was hardly moving and on the ground for almost half an hour. It caused considerable damage to buildings and cars. Credit: Getty Images
DENVER (KDVR) — Spring has arrived, but instead of rain and thunderstorms, Colorado is dealing with drought and extreme fire danger.
How often does Denver really have to worry about a tornado threat?
Tornadoes in Colorado
Most tornadoes in Colorado occur over the Eastern Plains and are on the lower end of the Enhanced Fujita Scale of tornado intensity.
Colorado is not located in the normal “Tornado Alley”, but Weld County actually has the number one rank for the weakest (EF0, EF-1) anywhere in the United States.
There are an average of around 31 weak tornadoes (EF0, EF1) each year across Colorado. Most of those happen in the Eastern Plains.
For the most part, tornadoes in Colorado occur in the afternoons with the development of the afternoon thunderstorms.
Do tornadoes ever hit Denver?
Has it happened? Yes. But strong tornadoes in the Denver metro are extremely rare.
On June 15, 1988, Meteorologist Chris Tomer said an F2 and F3 tornado hit the Denver metro.
Tornadoes in Denver are rare because of the city’s proximity to the Foothills and mountains.
“It takes some distance for the thunderstorms to mature and the wind sheer to maximize kind of like a spinning ice skater,” shared Meteorologist Chris Tomer.
Colorado’s tornado season is traditionally May through August, but we have had tornadoes from February to as late as October.
Hail in Colorado
Severe hail is actually a bigger and growing problem across Denver and the Front Range. We are technically in “Hail Alley”, a term used by Meteorologist Chris Tomer.
Not only does hail fall several times a year in Colorado, it’s also incredibly costly for our state.
That storm surpassed the historic storms of July 20, 2009 and July 11, 1990.
A 1.1 billion dollar hail storm hit the state in July of 2009. Thornton was buried under 8 inches of hail during that event.
Here’s a look at some of the hail that has fallen in Colorado over the past few years:
june 26 20 castle rock hail
Photo taken in Elizabeth Sunday afternoon. Robyn Cooper – Robync@hotmail.com
Hail in south east Fort Collins. Our trees are shredded and cars damaged.
Mike Uhrich (YOO-Rick) photo of our garden dweller near Monaco and Yale
Lydia Ker, Castle Rock. My children and I watched the hail go from pea-sized, to marble-sized, to golf ball size in a matter of moments. It fell with great velocity and shattered in the street and sidewalk. I’ve never seen hail explode on impact the way it did today!
Elizabeth Hamilton
Hail that woke me up tonight! At least as big or bigger than dime sized!
Mark Kaiser
3 in of hail covering in brighton
Hail no not again…
Hail and rain storm flooding
Ron Allen, an employee with the Manitou Springs Penny Arcade, and other employees dig out of hail drifts.
Baseball size hail! Centennial Hail
Hail in Northeast Fort Collins. Fell in 7 minutes. Can of sunscreen for scale.
Permission to post. Northern Greeley bear Island Grove Centennial Village
disk shaped, jellyfish hail 6.18.18
Hail the size of a peach! Broken windshield
North Thornton 06/18/18
Hail in Superior, Colorado. Photo credit: Alycia Gilliland
Hail covers US 36 near Louisville, Colorado
This was at Chambers and Evens
Hail this afternoon
Hailstorm south of Buena Vista this evening! Mudslide closed the west side of Hwy 285 in that area. Ditches filled with water.
Huge hail
3 cute kids with 3 bowls of golf ball size hail
Hail in may that looks like snow
Larger than quarters
wheat Ridge hail
Hail at Bijou and Bonfoy in Colorado Springs. (Photo: Eric Sellers)
Pictures of hail storm at 4 pm 2 miles west of Julesburg Colorado. Snake was crawling around in hail!
Colorado Springs hail – Lynsey Kennedy
Aurora hail – Tiffany Moreiko
Aurora hail Quincy and Chambers – Teresa Halvorsen Butts
Hail from Southwest Denver – photo by Kiki on Twitter @rgk_x
Hail in Colorado Springs. Courtesy: KRDO
Quarter-sized hail in Highlands Ranch
Hail piled up at 56th and Chambers (Photo: Adrianna Morales)
Hail in Aurora (Photo: Edgar Rivera Lopez)
Hail in downtown Castle Rock (Flint Gatrell)
This was taken 8/10/13 around 7:30pm just East of Parker
Hail by Wellington (Tim Singewald)
flood
Its beginning to look a lot like christmas
Hail storm in Windsor (Mike Klemmer)
Hail north of Wellington on Saturday, August 3 (Photo: Shane Bennett)
Hail at Centennial Airport. June 7, 2012
gold ball sized hail
1 / 50
Be sure to download the free Pinpoint Weather App to stay up-to-date with the newest weather data as it comes in and to get important alerts straight to your phone.
