Thunderstorm Wind, Las Animas
- When
- October 11, 8:10 PM MST to 8:15 PM MST
- Where
- Las Animas County, 15 mi E of Trinidad
- Measured
- 57 kt (66 mph)
- Coordinates
- 37.170, -104.250
Damaging Wind in Colorado, October 11, 1997
S. Highway 160 15 to 20 miles east northeast of Trinidad.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS PUB wrote it up.
Another supercell thunderstorm, from radar indications, probably spawned a tornado in the Purgatoire River Valley north of U.S. Highway 160 15 to 20 miles east northeast of Trinidad. The area the storm passed through is uninhabited, with no roads, and little vegetation to point out a tornado track. However, gusty winds to 66 mph were measured on the rear flank of the storm south of the probable tornado.
The radar
The Pueblo radar (KPUX), 144 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:12 UTC.
Event by event
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Thunderstorm Wind
- Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Rip Currents in Florida, October 11 to 13, 1997
- Tornadoes in Colorado, October 11, 1997
- Tornado and Hail in Colorado, October 11, 1997
- High Wind in Nebraska, October 11, 1997
- Tornado and Hail in Colorado, October 11, 1997
- Damaging Winds in North Dakota, October 11, 1997
- High Wind in Colorado, October 11, 1997
- Tornadoes and Hail in New Mexico, October 11, 1997
- Hail in Colorado, October 11, 1997
- Tornado and Hail in South Dakota, October 11, 1997
- Flash Flooding in Puerto Rico, October 11, 1997
- Flash Flooding in Texas, October 11, 1997
More
Every storm in Colorado in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyWarnings in Colorado, October 1997
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5621846.