Tornado and Hail in Colorado, October 11, 1997

Name: Tornado and Hail in Colorado, October 11, 1997
Start: 1997-10-11T21:33
End: 1997-10-11T21:50
Location: Colorado

October 11, 1997 · NWS PUB · 5 events in 1 county or zone

4 hail, 1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $70,000
Crop damage: $50,000
Events: 5

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.

The radar

The Pueblo radar (KPUX), 92 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 04:34 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 hail, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Bent

When: October 11, 9:33 PM MST to 9:35 PM MST
Where: Bent County, 2 mi WNW of Las Animas
Measured: 1 in hail
Coordinates: 38.080, -103.250

Hail, Bent

When: October 11, 9:35 PM MST to 9:38 PM MST
Where: Bent County, 1 mi WNW of Las Animas
Measured: 1 in hail
Coordinates: 38.070, -103.230

Hail, Bent

When: October 11, 9:38 PM MST to 9:43 PM MST
Where: Bent County, 2 mi WNW of Las Animas
Measured: 2.5 in hail
Coordinates: 38.080, -103.250

Hail, Bent

When: October 11, 9:40 PM MST to 9:45 PM MST
Where: Bent County, 3 mi WNW of Las Animas
Measured: 4.5 in hail
Property damage: $50,000
Crop damage: $50,000
Coordinates: 38.080, -103.270

Tornado, Bent

When: October 11, 9:40 PM MST to 9:50 PM MST
Where: Bent County, Las Animas to 3 mi N of Las Animas
Rating: F1
Path length: 8 mi
Path width: 100 yd
Property damage: $20,000
Coordinates: 38.080, -103.270

A line of thunderstorms moving east through western Bent county merged with a northeast moving supercell thunderstorm just west of Las Animas. The hail quickly grew from one inch in diameter up to 4.50 inches in diameter. A tornado and high winds skipped across the landscape for about 8 miles from about 3 miles west northwest of Las Animas through ranch country of north central Bent county. Windows were broken and roofs were destroyed on houses, outbuilding were damaged and destroyed, and vehicles were damaged and destroyed by both the high winds and hail.

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Colorado in 1997 Every state in 1997 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Colorado, 1997 Warnings 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: 5621851, 5621852, 5621853, 5621854, 5621968.