Severe thunderstorm developed across the Northeast Plains of Colorado and produced large and tornadoes. Large hail the size of golfballs was reported.
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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 episode as NWS BOU wrote it up.
Severe thunderstorm developed across the Northeast Plains of Colorado and produced large and tornadoes. Large hail the size of golfballs was reported. Several tornadoes also touched down but did only minor damage.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Denver/Boulder, CO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 20, 2:10 AM MST, 8 hours 47 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 310 AM MDT FRI JUN 20 2008 .SHORT TERM...GRADUAL DRYING CONTINUES TODAY AS LOW LEVEL MOISTURE MIXES OUT EACH DAY AND IS NOT FULLY REPLENISHED. ANOTHER WEAK SHORTWAVE DROPS OVER THE RIDGE AXIS INTO THE CENTRAL PLAINS TODAY. MODELS DO NOT HAVE A GOOD HANDLE ON THIS...NAM HAS IT EAST OF US BY THIS AFTERNOON. GFS IS SLOWER AND NOT AS WELL DEFINED...BRINGING SOME LIFT ACROSS EASTERN COLORADO THIS AFTERNOON BUT SOUTH OF THE AREA BY EVENING. JUDGING FROM THE SATELLITE PICTURE AND CURRENT UPSTREAM CONVECTION IN WYOMING...A COMPROMISE MAY BE IN ORDER WITH THE LIFT PASSING OVER THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE STATE THIS MORNING AND PROBABLY DIMINISHING BY THE END OF THE DAY. WHILE THE CONVECTIVE ENVIRONMENT REMAINS GENERALLY MARGINAL...THE LIFT AND PRESENCE OF ALREADY ORGANIZED CONVECTION BRUSHING BY WILL PRODUCE MORE NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS NEAR THE EASTERN BORDER. ALONG THE FRONT RANGE CONVECTION WILL LIKELY BE LATE AGAIN DUE TO THE AMOUNT OF HEATING NEEDED...MOST LIKELY PEAKING IN THE EARLY EVENING. STILL A SMALL SEVERE THREAT WITH CAPES 500-1000 J/KG ALONG THE FRONT RANGE AND AROUND 1000 J/KG ALONG THE EASTERN BORDER. THE MOUNTAINS WERE PRETTY QUIET YESTERDAY AND ADDITIONAL DRYING WILL MAKE IT SO AGAIN TODAY. STILL SOME ISOLATED POPS BUT EVEN THAT MAY BE OVERDONE. DROPPED TEMPS SLIGHTLY TODAY...COMPROMISING BETWEEN GUIDANCE NUMBERS. DROPPED LOWS TONIGHT WITH DRYING/CLEARING EARLY...AGAIN IN THE MIDDLE OF GUIDANCE. .LONG TERM...OVERALL ONLY MINOR ADJUSTMENTS PLANNED IN THE FORECAST. UPPER RIDGE WILL REMAIN THE DOMINANT FEATURE WITH ITS AXIS SHIFTING FM THE GREAT BASIN INTO ERN CO BY SUNDAY AFTERNOON. THERE WILL BE A SLIGHT CHC OF AFTN AND EVNG TSTMS EACH DAY WITH SOME MOISTURE TRAPPED UNDER THE RIDGE. WARMEST DAY APPEARS TO BE ON SUNDAY. THE RIDGE IS PROGGED TO CONTINUE OVER THE WEST INTO NEXT WEEK. OVERALL DRY BUT LINGERING SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE AND/OR THE PASSING DISTURBANCE OVERRIDING THE RIDGE COULD IMPROVE THE CHC OF TSTMS. HARD TO SAY WHEN THAT MAY OCCUR SO WL STICK WITH A SLIGHT CHC OF AFTN AND EVNG TSTMS EACH DAY. && .AVIATION...ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED IN THE LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS. THE MAIN THREATS ARE LIGHTNING AND WIND GUSTS TO AROUND 30 KNOTS. && .BOU WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && GIMMESTAD/COOPER
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO 1057 AM MDT FRI JUN 20 2008 COZ030>051-211200- JACKSON COUNTY BELOW 9000 FEET-WEST JACKSON AND WEST GRAND COUNTIES ABOVE 9000 FEET-GRAND AND SUMMIT COUNTIES BELOW 9000 FEET-SOUTH AND EAST JACKSON/LARIMER/NORTH AND NORTHEAST GRAND/ NORTHWEST BOULDER COUNTIES ABOVE 9000 FEET-SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST GRAND/WEST CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST BOULDER/GILPIN/CLEAR CREEK/ SUMMIT/NORTH AND WEST PARK COUNTIES ABOVE 9000 FEET-LARIMER AND BOULDER COUNTIES BETWEEN 6000 AND 9000 FEET-JEFFERSON AND WEST DOUGLAS COUNTIES ABOVE 6000 FEET/GILPIN/CLEAR CREEK/NORTHEAST PARK COUNTIES BELOW 9000 FEET-CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST PARK COUNTY-LARIMER COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/NORTHWEST WELD COUNTY-BOULDER AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES BELOW 6000 FEET/WEST BROOMFIELD COUNTY-NORTH DOUGLAS COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/DENVER/WEST ADAMS AND ARAPAHOE COUNTIES/ EAST BROOMFIELD COUNTY-ELBERT/CENTRAL AND EAST DOUGLAS COUNTIES ABOVE 6000 FEET-NORTHEAST WELD COUNTY-CENTRAL AND SOUTH WELD COUNTY-MORGAN COUNTY-CENTRAL AND EAST ADAMS AND ARAPAHOE COUNTIES- NORTH AND NORTHEAST ELBERT COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/NORTH LINCOLN COUNTY-SOUTHEAST ELBERT COUNTY BELOW 6000 FEET/SOUTH LINCOLN COUNTY-LOGAN COUNTY-WASHINGTON COUNTY-SEDGWICK COUNTY-PHILLIPS COUNTY- 1057 AM MDT FRI JUN 20 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE STATE...PRODUCED BY A PASSING UPPER AIR DISTURBANCE...SHOULD MOVE SOUTHEAST OUT OF THE AREA BY EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. THIS SAME DISTURBANCE IS ALSO EXPECTED TO PRODUCE WIDELY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS OVER AND NEAR THE SOUTHERN FRONT RANGE FOOTHILLS AND PALMER DIVIDE BETWEEN 11 AND 2 PM TODAY. THIS FIRST WAVE OF STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF GUSTY WINDS TO AROUND 35 MPH...UP TO A QUARTER INCH OF RAIN AND OCCASIONAL CLOUD-TO-GROUND LIGHTNING. ONE OR TWO STORMS MAY EVEN PRODUCE HAIL UP TO AN INCH IN DIAMETER. THEN LOOK FOR A DECREASE IN THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY MID TO LATE AFTERNOON...ONLY TO INCREASE AGAIN EARLY THIS EVENING WITH PASSAGE OF ANOTHER WEAK UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE. EVENING THUNDERSTORMS...ESPECIALLY THOSE OVER AND NEAR THE SOUTHERN FOOTHILLS AND PALMER DIVIDE MAY AGAIN PRODUCE BRIEF HEAVY RAINFALL...STRONG GUSTY WINDS AND HAIL. THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD END IN ALL AREAS BY MIDNIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY THERE WILL BE A SLIGHT CHANCE OF AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS EACH DAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. BAKER/ENTREKIN
The Denver radar (KFTG), 118 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 17:56 UTC.
7 hail, 6 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A small tornado touched down and caused minor damage.
A small tornado touched down but did no damage.
A small tornado touched down but did no damage.
A small tornado touched down but did no damage.
A small tornado touched down but did no damage.
A small tornado touched down but did no damage.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Colorado, 2008Warnings in Colorado, June 2008
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: 101922, 101913, 101920, 101914, 101915, 101916, 101923, 101924, 101925, 101926, 101917, 101918, 101919.