Tornado in Colorado, May 24, 1998

Name: Tornado in Colorado, May 24, 1998
Start: 1998-05-24T17:35
End: 1998-05-24T17:40
Location: Colorado

May 24, 1998 · NWS PUB · 1 event in 1 county or zone

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: $50,000
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.

The radar

The Pueblo radar (KPUX), 68 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:37 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Otero

When: May 24, 5:35 PM MST to 5:40 PM MST
Where: Otero County, La Junta to 9 mi W of La Junta
Rating: F1
Path length: 1 mi
Path width: 50 yd
Property damage: $50,000
Coordinates: 37.970, -103.720

A narrow tornado and 80 to 100 mph straight-line winds downed power lines... damaged several grain bins and storage silos...uprooted large trees...shattered some windows...and partially ripped off some roofs in the rural Star Valley area west of La Junta. A large 40x100 foot machine shop was destroyed. Several small sheds were also destroyed. Power was not restored to some parts of the area until the following afternoon.

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.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Colorado in 1998 Every state in 1998 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Colorado, 1998 Warnings in Colorado, May 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: 5645944.