A severe thunderstorm produced a brief tornado.
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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.
A severe thunderstorm produced a brief tornado.
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 Jul 2, 1:00 PM MST, 4 hours 31 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Denver/Boulder CO 200 PM MDT SAT JUL 2 2016 .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Sunday) Issued at 200 PM MDT Sat Jul 2 2016 The west side of an area of rain showers extending from near limon to Sedgwick marks the axis of a weak upper level trough that has been moving across the region. Should see some embedded tstms developing within this band as it continues to move east of the area by 00z. In addition, scattered showers and tstms developing over the higher terrain will start to move across the Urban Corridor and adjacent plains. This is not as well organized and should break down and diminish this evening in the 02-04z time frame. The stronger storms could produce a brief period of moderate to heavy rainfall...one half to one inch in an hour and maybe a brief wind gust to 30 kts, but that should be it. On Sunday...an upper level ridge and mid level subsidence will allow for warmer airmass to move over the region. Although not as moist, the precipitable water values are still not too bad, around 0.80 inches. As a result the storms will likely still provide some beneficial rainfall. Best coverage will be over the higher terrain with isolated coverage across the plains in the aftn. Overall CAPES appear to be in the 500-800 j/kg range with generally weak shear, so no severe anticipated at this time. Will keep some patchy fog in the grids late tonight and Sunday morning, mainly zones 48>51. .LONG TERM...(Sunday night through Saturday) Issued at 200 PM MDT Sat Jul 2 2016 Isolated thunderstorms are expected to linger into the evening hours Sunday night and then end by midnight as the airmass stabilizes. For Monday...models indicate a short wave trough will move across the state. Still differences on the timing among the models. Moisture and instability not that great, so expect the best chance for thunderstorms will be over the higher terrain with a few of them making it to the eastern plains. On Tuesday...weak ridging will be over the central rockies with westerly flow aloft. This will result in high temperatures near 90 degrees. Precipitable water values will be a half inch to three- quarter of an inch. CAPE will be less than 500 J/kg, so expect isolated weak storms Tuesday, with most of them confined to the higher terrain. Drier and warmer air will be over the region Wednesday. Flow aloft will become southwesterly as the ridge shifts east of Colorado. Because of the drier air in place, there will be just a slight chance for thunderstorms. Again the higher terrain will have the best chance at seeing a storm. For Thursday through Saturday...westerly flow aloft will continue to bring dry air to the region, especially at the mid and upper levels. May be too dry for storms over the higher terrain. The GFS and ECMWF show a couple of weak cold fronts clipping eastern Colorado. This may help replenish low level moisture and lead to afternoon and evening thunderstorms. Plan on having the highest pops these days over the eastern plains. Temperatures are expected to be near normal with highs in the upper 80s to lower 90s. && .AVIATION...(For the 18Z TAFS through 18Z Sunday afternoon) Issued at 200 PM MDT Sat Jul 2 2016 VFR should prevail over the next 24 hrs. Only restrictions will involve a passing tstm where cigs ma drop in the 040-060kft agl range...in the 21-01z window. Northeast winds this aftn will transition to drainage with partial clearing overnight. && .BOU Watches/Warnings/Advisories... None. && SHORT TERM...Cooper LONG TERM...Meier AVIATION...Cooper
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER/BOULDER CO 944 AM MDT SAT JUL 2 2016 COZ030>051-031545- 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- 944 AM MDT SAT JUL 2 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTHEAST AND NORTH CENTRAL COLORADO. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NORTHERN COLORADO WILL HAVE ONE MORE RELATIVELY COOL DAY WITH SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TODAY. THERE IS LESS INSTABILITY TODAY BUT STILL PLENTY OF MOISTURE...SO SOME OF THE STORMS COULD STILL PRODUCE A PERIOD OF HEAVY RAINFALL ALONG WITH GUSTY WINDS TO 35 MPH AND SMALL HAIL. SINCE THE STORMS WILL GENERALLY BE MOVING AND NOT AS STRONG AS THE LAST COUPLE OF DAYS...THE THREAT OF FLASH FLOODING IS LOW TODAY. THE THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER IS ALSO LOW BUT IF ANY DOES OCCUR...IT WILL BE SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST OF DENVER ALONG THE PALMER DIVIDE. WIND GUSTS TO 60 MPH AND HAIL UP TO QUARTER SIZE WOULD BE THE MAIN THREATS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY A WARMING AND DRYING TREND IS EXPECTED EARLY NEXT WEEK...WITH TEMPERATURES CLIMBING BACK INTO THE 90S BY TUESDAY. ISOLATED TO SCATTERED AFTERNOON AND EVENING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN EACH DAY...WITH ONLY A FEW STORMS POSSIBLE OVER THE PLAINS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED TODAY OR TONIGHT.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO
631 PM MDT SAT JUL 2 2016
COZ045-030115-
CENTRAL AND EAST ADAMS AND ARAPAHOE COUNTIES CO-
631 PM MDT SAT JUL 2 2016
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR NORTH CENTRAL ARAPAHOE AND SOUTH
CENTRAL ADAMS COUNTIES UNTIL 715 PM MDT...
AT 630 PM MDT...DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR
BENNETT...OR 27 MILES EAST OF DENVER...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 5 MPH.
HALF INCH HAIL AND WINDS IN EXCESS OF 40 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH
THIS STORM. SPOTTERS REPORTED A SMALL FUNNEL CLOUD WITH THIS
STORM...BUT AT THIS TIME IT IS NOT EXPECTED TO REACH THE GROUND.
LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
BENNETT AND STRASBURG.
LAT...LON 3970 10451 3973 10451 3981 10446 3975 10433
3962 10441
TIME...MOT...LOC 0030Z 306DEG 4KT 3972 10445
KRIEDERMANThe Denver radar (KFTG), 12 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:31 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
A weak tornado touched down in open country, no damage was observed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Colorado in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Colorado, 2016Warnings in Colorado, July 2016
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: 640748.