Several thunderstorms moved across northwest Yuma County and parts of Kit Carson County, producing two weak tornadoes and a nickel size hail report.
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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 GLD wrote it up.
Several thunderstorms moved across northwest Yuma County and parts of Kit Carson County, producing two weak tornadoes and a nickel size hail report.
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 Goodland, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 17, 1:51 PM MST, 27 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 251 PM MDT FRI APR 17 2015 .SHORT TERM...(THIS EVENING THROUGH SATURDAY) ISSUED AT 1226 PM MDT FRI APR 17 2015 UPPER LOW OVER THE CENTRAL ROCKIES THIS AFTERNOON WILL MOVE ONTO THE PLAINS OF EASTERN COLORADO BY SATURDAY AFTERNOON. VORTICITY LOBES ROTATING AROUND IT WILL PROVIDE OCCASIONAL SYNOPTIC SCALE LIFT. ANOMALOUSLY HIGH PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES ARE ALREADY IN PLACE DUE TO LOW LEVEL SOUTHEASTERLY MOISTURE ADVECTION AND RECENT RAINFALL. INSTABILITY IS THE BIGGEST QUESTION MARK AS FAR AS SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE CONCERNED...SINCE MORNING CLOUDS HAVE BEEN SLOW TO ERODE AND INSOLATION HAS BEEN LIMITED. NONETHELESS...18Z SPC MESOSCALE ANALYSIS INDICATES UP TO 1500 J/KG OF SBCAPE IN EASTERN COLORADO WHICH WILL ONLY INCREASE WITH ANY AFTERNOON HEATING. DEEP LAYER SHEAR ON THE ORDER OF 50-60KTS POSSIBLE BY THIS AFTERNOON...WHICH WILL BE MORE THAN SUFFICIENT FOR SUPERCELLS IF BETTER INSTABILITY CAN MATERIALIZE. THE OTHER CONCERN IS HEAVY RAINFALL...PARTICULARLY IN THE WEST WHERE TWO DAY TOTALS OF 2-3 INCHES AND LOCALLY UP TO 5 INCHES HAS RESULTED IN SATURATED GROUND CONDITIONS AND LOWER FFG VALUES. CONSIDERED A FLASH FLOOD WATCH BUT OVERALL QPF FROM THE HIGHER RESOLUTION SHORT TERM MODELS GENERALLY LESS THAN 0.50 INCHES WITH SOME HIGHER AMOUNTS IN BULLSEYES. AS A RESULT...DO NOT FEEL THERE IS ENOUGH AREAL THREAT TO JUSTIFY A FFW AT THIS TIME. WITH ALL THAT SAID...EXPECTING A ROBUST BAND OF RAIN AND EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP ACROSS NORTHEAST COLORADO AND LIFT NORTHWARD INTO THE REMAINDER OF THE AREA THIS EVENING. BY THE OVERNIGHT HOURS IT WILL BE IMPACTING MAINLY SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA EXITING TO THE NORTH AND EAST BY 12Z SATURDAY MORNING. PROXIMITY TO THE UPPER LOW SATURDAY AFTERNOON WILL RESULT IN SCATTERED THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT ONCE AGAIN...PRIMARILY IN EASTERN COLORADO THEN SPREADING INTO NORTHWEST KANSAS AND SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA IN THE AFTERNOON. THE SEVERE SET UP WILL BE SIMILAR TO TODAY WITH EXCELLENT SHEAR BUT QUESTIONABLE INSTABILITY. CLIMATOLOGY ALSO SUGGESTS A TORNADO THREAT WITH A CUT OFF LOW DIRECTLY OVERHEAD. .LONG TERM...(SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY) ISSUED AT 251 PM MDT FRI APR 17 2015 ACTIVE PATTERN APPEARS TO PERSIST THROUGHOUT THE EXTENDED FORECAST PERIOD. THERE SHOULD BE A BRIEF LULL IN PRECIPITATION ACTIVITY AS A HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE PASSES THROUGH BEFORE THE NEXT UPPER LEVEL LOW. FORECAST GUIDANCE BEYOND TUESDAY REMAINS MUDDLED BUT STRONGER AGREEMENT WITH UPPER LEVEL PATTERN HAS BEEN NOTED. UNFORTUNATELY.... FRONTAL POSITION AND THUS TEMPERATURES AND THUNDERSTORM/SEVERE WEATHER CHANCES REMAIN UNCERTAIN. BEGINNING WITH SATURDAY NIGHT...SHOWERS/THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD SPREAD ACROSS THE REGION ONCE AGAIN. STRONGEST FORCING SLIDES NORTHEAST OF THE FORECAST AREA BY MIDNIGHT...DRAGGING THUNDERSTORMS WITH IT. A FEW STORMS WILL BE STRONG/SEVERE WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS AS THE MAIN THREAT. MOISTURE CONTENT OF THE ATMOSPHERE WANES SO CURRENTLY NOT THINKING HEAVY RAINS OR FLASH FLOODING IS A LARGER THREAT. THEN...AS THE UPPER LOW PASSES OVERHEAD...A COLD FRONT SURGES SOUTH AS A FINAL DISTURBANCE MOVES IN FROM THE NORTHWEST. ANTICIPATE STRONG NORTHWEST WINDS AND AREAS OF SHOWERS...PERHAPS A FEW SNOW SHOWERS...BEHIND THE FRONT SUNDAY MORNING UNTIL AROUND NOON. SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY...A FEW SHORTWAVE TROUGHS PASS THROUGH THE NORTHWEST FLOW REGIME. COULD SEE A FEW SHOWERS/SNOW SHOWERS DEVELOP AS THIS HAPPENS. GUIDANCE REMAINS IN DISAGREEMENT AND TIMING OF PLACEMENT AND A NOTICEABLE TREND WITH HIGHER PRECIPITATION CHANCES REMAINING SOUTH HAS BEEN OBSERVED. THEREFORE...DO NOT FORESEE ANY WIDESPREAD RAINS WITH THIS POTENTIAL ACTIVITY. A LULL IN CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY FORECAST MONDAY NIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY MORNING. BRIEF UPPER LEVEL RIDGING IS ADVERTISED BY THE CANADIAN...EUROPEAN AND GFS MODELS. IN ADDITION...THE TRI-STATE REGION IS ENVELOPED IN THE WARM SECTOR SO WE SHOULD OBSERVE A WARMING TREND WITH HIGHS IN THE 70S LIKELY BY WEDNESDAY. ALMOST IDENTICAL TO THIS PAST SYSTEM...YET ANOTHER DEEP UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE DEVELOPS OVER THE ROCKIE MOUNTAINS. THIS SYSTEM WILL MOVE AT A SLUGGISH PACE SO YET ANOTHER ROUND OF SHOWERS...THUNDERSTORMS /POSSIBLY SEVERE AND WIDESPREAD BENEFICIAL RAINS IS POSSIBLE. MADE ADJUSTMENTS TO INCREASE POPS. WITH THE LOW HOLDING BACK TO THE WEST FOR SO LONG...FEEL WE SHOULD REMAIN IN THE WARM SECTOR. THE GFS AGGRESSIVELY BRINGS A FRONT THROUGH BUT THIS IS LIKELY OVERDONE. WILL HOLD OFF ON MENTIONING POTENTIAL RAIN/SNOW FOR NOW IN THE EXTENDED DUE TO TEMPERATURE CONCERNS. && .AVIATION...(FOR THE 18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z SATURDAY AFTERNOON) ISSUED AT 1117 AM MDT FRI APR 17 2015 LOW CEILINGS WILL GRADUALLY LIFT THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AT BOTH KGLD AND KMCK AND MAY BRIEFLY REACH MVFR IN THE MID OR LATE AFTERNOON HOURS. HOWEVER...THUNDERSTORMS WILL REDEVELOP BY THAT TIME AS UPPER LOW OVER THE CENTRAL ROCKIES CONTINUES TO PROVIDE SYNOPTIC SCALE LIFT. BAND OF RAIN AND EMBEDDED STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS WILL LIFT FROM NORTHEAST COLORADO AND NORTHWEST KANSAS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING INTO SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA BY MID TO LATE EVENING. OVERNIGHT...AREAS OF FOG WILL POTENTIALLY REDUCE VISIBILITIES AT BOTH TERMINALS BEFORE BURNING OFF SATURDAY MORNING. && .GLD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... KS...NONE. CO...NONE. NE...NONE. && SHORT TERM...024 LONG TERM...RRH AVIATION...024
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS 1032 AM MDT FRI APR 17 2015 COZ090>092-KSZ001>004-013>016-027>029-041-042-NEZ079>081-181645- YUMA-KIT CARSON-CHEYENNE CO-CHEYENNE KS-RAWLINS-DECATUR-NORTON- SHERMAN-THOMAS-SHERIDAN-GRAHAM-WALLACE-LOGAN-GOVE-GREELEY-WICHITA- DUNDY-HITCHCOCK-RED WILLOW- 1032 AM MDT FRI APR 17 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EAST CENTRAL COLORADO... EXTREME SOUTHWEST NEBRASKA AND NORTHWEST KANSAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... THE REGION IS UNDER SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. ALL MODES OF SEVERE WEATHER ARE POSSIBLE...INCLUDING LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS AND POSSIBLY A TORNADO. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL IS ALSO POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY... THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING EAST OF HIGHWAY 83 IN NORTHWEST KANSAS. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS WILL BE THE MAIN THREATS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED.
The Goodland radar (KGLD), 121 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:18 UTC.
2 tornado, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
A weak, short-lived landspout tornado was reported by a spotter about 1-2 miles southwest of Yuma. The tornado lasted a couple minutes before dissipating.
A rope tornado was on the ground for several minutes.
The average hail size was under a half inch and minor leaf damage was noted.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Colorado, 2015Warnings in Colorado, April 2015
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: 573036, 573037, 573034.