Tornados hit north of Denver (Windor, Greeley)

[YDogg]

Source: MSNBC TV

One death reported near Greeley, overturned semi trucks, Windmill daycare center hit, old mill down, tornado said to be 3/4 to one mile wide.

Video link is from CNN.

More from the Denver Post: http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_9344925

"The town hall in Windsor was hit by a tornado this morning, but no injures were reported. Schools in the area were in lockdown.

Colorado State Trooper Ryan Sullivan said the tornado has caused multiple crashes and multiple injuries on highways in Weld County. Colo. 60 and U.S. 85 were closed as state patrol and emergency crews work to help the motorists.

The heaviest damage was reported in Dacono, Windsor and Greeley, according to the weather service. Several buildings and roofs were damaged.

A daycare center in Windsor was damaged, but the children had been evacuated to a nearby bank.

The storm was moving northwest along U.S. 287 toward Berthoud and Loveland."

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/22/colorado.tornado.video/index.html

[Marrah_G]

1. Is that normal??????????

[YDogg]

2. I'm guessing not.

[YDogg]

10. I stand corrected

My best recollection/guess was that Denver was just close enough to the mountains to avoid tornado activity, although it is pretty flat.

[niyad]

18. actually not. colorado springs sits right at the base of the front range, and they get tornadoes

(even had one go right down manitou ave, and that sits right in the foothills)

[uppityperson]

5. Tornadoes in CO in spring? Yes. This looks like a big one. Link to GD topic...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3325978&mesg_id=3325978

[laundry_queen]

7. It's not completely unheard of.

The eastern part of Colorado is still somewhat in tornado alley. Tornadoes might be less likely to happen there, but they still do happen. Colorado is actually ranked 9th in amount of tornadoes in the US. I know this because I looked it up a couple of days ago, since we are planning a move there.

[kestrel91316]

17. This was almost right up against the Front Range - NOT

Tornado Alley by any stretch of the imagination. We saw them way out east on the plains, of course. But not in the Fort.

[laundry_queen]

27. I lived in an area

in Canada with similar topography (near the Rockies) and it was not unusual to have a couple of tornado warnings a year and that was far further away from tornado alley than anywhere in CO. Tornados outside of the 'classic' tornado alley, even big ones, are far more common than most people think. Here's a pic I found depicting the main part of tornado alley:



Ft. Collins is pretty close though not in it. Here's another one that has amount of tornadoes per county from 1950-2003.



Now I do think with global climate change we will see MORE of these events happening, but it doesn't mean that they didn't happen before, either.

[slackmaster]

8. Denver is at the edge of "Tornado Alley" but it does get major ones

[HiddenCSLib]

12. Tornado's are common around Denver

I grew up in Bennett (30 miles east of Denver) and loved to watch them ripping thru the wheat fields right by town. Also there was a big tornado the tore thru Thornton on June 3, 1981. The house I was in at the time lost 1 pane in the bathroom window, the next house lost the roof and the 3 houses past that were gone. About 5 blocks from my house was my GF house and about 75% of it was leveled but on the back patio was a small table with the mail on it and nothing moved. Hearing a tornado go over you is something you will not forget ever but the scariest part was the national guard posted to prevent looting. I cooked up some frozen chicken legs in the fireplace, no gas or electricity, and went to give some out and thought I was gonna be shot. Violent weather around Denver is very common, I am surprised that DIA is still there as I remember watching tornadoes in that area when I was out harvesting wheat in the early 80's

[MissMarple]

15. Welcome to DU!

:hi: I just talked with my daughter in Fort Collins, they are under a tornado watch until 8 p.m.

There are more progressives in the Springs than one might think, given the vocal and quite looming presence of Focus and the military.

[niyad]

22. I know, even though we tend to feel like we are the only ones, there really are a fair number

(as witnessed by the turnouts at drinking liberally)

[niyad]

20. welcome to DU

there are a number of liberals and progressives here. I keep telling the fundies that the more of them who come here, the more of us will be here as well.

do you go to drinking liberally? what part of town are you in?

[kestrel91316]

21. You are correct to say violent weather is common in the area. But

tornados are not.

Fort Collins DID have that horrible rainstorm that caused flash flooding and deaths some years ago (1997?) - I was all worried about my Grammie with that one......
http://ccc.atmos.colostate.edu/~odie/rain.html
".......Most summer thunderstorms would have begun to dissipate or move away by this time, but this storm was an exception. Instead of weakening, rainfall intensities increased again, and the most intense rains were still ahead. From about 8:30 to 10:00 p.m. (2030 to 2200 MDT) extremely heavy rain, of a magnitude rarely experienced in northern Colorado, was localized over an area of a few square miles centered not far from the corner of Drake Road and Overland Trail in extreme southwestern Fort Collins. Based on a variety of individual observations and numerous reports of over-topped rain gauges, it appeared that rainfall totals for this 90-minute period approached or exceeded five inches over the approximate area delineated by Taft Hill Road on the east, the crest of the hogback formation that forms the eastern edge of Horsetooth Reservoir on the west, the western extension of Horsetooth Road on the south and approximately Elizabeth Street on the north (see Figure 13). This area includes much of the Spring Creek watershed. Maximum instantaneous rainfall rates likely exceeded 5-6 inches per hour at times. With these extreme rainfall rates falling on a surface already covered with flowing water, incredible volumes of water accumulated that moved downhill from approximately west to east across Fort Collins initiating the devastating flooding. Other reports are being written by hydrologic experts that focus on the flooding produced by this remarkable rainstorm......"

[CC]

13. According to my mom and other family

born and raised there it is not usual. A small tornado that close to the front range once in a while would be normal but not like this one. Since the family has been there since the 1900s I figure they should know. Still checking in on everybody in the area.

[kestrel91316]

16. Um, NO. N.O.

I know Ft. Collins very well - my mom was raised there, grandparents lived there most their lives, parents and I all went to college there.........other than LA it's my only real home town.

I can't recall ANY tornados there EVER. Out east on the plains, certainly. But never west of I-25. And a Cat 5 is, well astonishing to put it mildly.

I am SOOOOOO glad this was out in the sticks in farm country for the most part. If it had ripped through Ft. Collins proper or even Greely, it would have been catastrophic like Greenburg, KS. Or Xenia, OH (where I lived in 1974 when it hit).

[YDogg]

3. News reports from Greeley

"Old Town Windsor devastated"
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20080522/NEWS/264827458

"Weld official reports possible tornado-related death"
http://www.greeleytrib.com/article/20080522/NEWS/977968740

[YDogg]

4. Tornado picture and link to more pics

More pics
http://www.9news.com/9slideshows/Weld%20County%20Tornado%205-22-08/

[VeraAgnes]

6. Oh CRAP!

:scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared: :scared:

[kestrel91316]

23. That would have had me peeing in my pants.

And that's I-25, the main north-south route through the state.

[MindPilot]

9. The first (and only) time I ever saw a tornado was near Denver.

I was on approach to Buckley with my flight instructor and the funnel just sort of materialized right before our eyes about 10 miles to the north. He grabbed the controls and the radio, told the controller "thirty-seven tango we need to abort and go south right now."

I didn't know a Cessna 150 could climb like that.

[originalpckelly]

26. I was walking home from school one day sophomore year of high school in Denver...

when the tornado sirens went off. I saw the wall cloud, but there was never a funnel. Because of where I was, there was no place to take cover!

[KSinTX]

11. Mommy Nature seems displeased these days

Wonder why?

[niyad]

24. because we are messing up our home, Mother Earth. I think She is getting really tired

of some of the tenants, who are leaving trash everywhere, digging huge holes, pouring toxins everywhere. . .etc., etc.,

[uppityperson]

14. link to slideshow/picts...

http://www.9news.com/
http://www.9news.com/9slideshows/Weld%20County%20Tornado%205-22-08/Default.aspx?N=0

[YDogg]

19. A bit more at MSNBC

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24778099/

[originalpckelly]

25. The main reason this is odd has to do with the direction the storms went, to the northwest...

Usually our wind patterns in Colorado come out of the west, so storms blow eastward. Denver usually gets the weaker versions of storms that go out on to the plains toward Kansas and cause tornadoes out that way.

The position of a low pressure system to the north and (slightly) west of Denver and the affected areas means that this storms originated near Denver, then blew up to Windsor, which is northwest of Denver.