Tornado, Arapahoe
- When
- July 23, 2:53 PM MST
- Where
- Arapahoe County, 6 mi N of Deer Trail
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 0.1 mi
- Path width
- 25 yd
- Reported by
- STORM CHASER
- Coordinates
- 39.700, -104.050
Tornadoes and Flash Flooding in Colorado, July 23, 1998
3 flash flood, 2 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 3 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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
- 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 Denver radar (KFTG), 43 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:53 UTC.
Event by event
3 flash flood, 2 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Tornado, Arapahoe
- When
- July 23, 3:15 PM MST
- Where
- Arapahoe County, 5 mi N of Deer Trail
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 0.1 mi
- Path width
- 25 yd
- Reported by
- STORM CHASER
- Coordinates
- 39.680, -104.050
Two small landspouts touched down briefly but did no damage.
Flash Flood, Arapahoe
- When
- July 23, 4:30 PM MST to 6:15 PM MST
- Where
- Arapahoe County, 15 mi E of Byers
- Reported by
- GENERAL PUBLIC
- Coordinates
- 39.650, -104.339 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Heavy rain flooded some local arroyos as they swelled to 5 feet in depth. Some cattle were caught in the high water and carried downstream.
Flash Flood, Sedgwick
- When
- July 23, 7:00 PM MST to 10:00 PM MST
- Where
- Sedgwick County, 10 mi S of Julesburg
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 40.876, -102.352 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood, Phillips
- When
- July 23, 7:00 PM MST to 10:00 PM MST
- Where
- Phillips County, Amherst
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 40.594, -102.358 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash flooding forced the closure of U.S. Highway 385 south of Julesburg and State Highway 176 from Amherst northeast to the Nebraska border as over 3.5 inches of rain/3.61/ reportedly fell in the area.
What these are
- 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.
- Flash Flood
- Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Massachusetts, July 23, 1998
- Lightning Strikes in Virginia, July 23, 1998
- Damaging Wind in New York, July 23, 1998
- Lightning Strike in Mississippi, July 23, 1998
- Flash Flood in Nevada, July 23, 1998
- Damaging Winds in Tennessee, July 23, 1998
- Damaging Wind in Arkansas, July 23, 1998
- Hail and Damaging Winds in New York, July 23, 1998
- Flash Flood and Damaging Wind in New Mexico, July 23, 1998
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Kansas, July 23, 1998
- Damaging Winds in Virginia, July 23, 1998
- Tornadoes and Hail in Oklahoma, July 23, 1998
More
Every storm in Colorado in 1998Every state in 1998This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Colorado, 1998Warnings in Colorado, July 1998
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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5663359, 5663360, 5663361, 5663362, 5663363.