Tornadoes · United States · Colorado

1977 tornadoes in Colorado

31 tornadoes touched down in Colorado in 1977, about the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1976 1978 The whole country in 1977

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Every tornado in Colorado in 1977

March 18 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 182:55 PM MSTF2Lincoln1.567
March 182:55 PM MSTF2Lincoln1.567
March 184:10 PM MSTF1Washington0.140

April 11 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 1112:57 PM MSTF2El Paso1.0100$50,000 to $500,000

April 13 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 132:10 PM MSTF2Crowley5.130$500 to $5,000

May 1 4 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 13:00 PM MDTF1Weld0.180
May 17:55 PM MDTF1Prowers0.180
May 18:00 PM MDTF1Prowers0.180
May 18:00 PM MDTF1Prowers0.180

May 30 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 3012:10 AM MDTF1Cheyenne0.180
May 3012:55 AM MDTF1Cheyenne0.180

June 1 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 16:35 PM MDTF1El Paso2.020

June 2 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 21:55 PM MDTF0Elbert0.230
June 22:55 PM MDTF0Lincoln0.230

June 13 5 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 135:00 PM MDTF3El Paso4.9100
June 135:05 PM MDTF2El Paso1.050
June 135:30 PM MDTF2El Paso1.0502$50,000 to $500,000
June 135:30 PM MDTF0El Paso0.520
June 135:40 PM MDTF2El Paso1.050$50,000 to $500,000

June 19 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 198:30 PM MDTF0Weld0.110

June 20 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 208:45 PM MDTF0Washington0.120

July 7 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 72:00 PM MDTF0Prowers0.540
July 77:14 PM MDTF0Logan0.540

July 9 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 97:00 PM MDTF2Phillips0.1200

July 25 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 253:15 PM MDTF0Arapahoe0.120

August 8 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 86:00 PM MDTF1Pueblo0.250

August 10 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 103:05 PM MDTF1El Paso1.060

August 14 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 143:38 PM MDTF1Adams1.060
August 143:45 PM MDTF1Adams1.060
August 143:45 PM MDTF1Adams1.0601$50,000 to $500,000

August 19 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 198:15 PM MDTF0Yuma0.120

Crossed into Colorado

Tornadoes that touched down in a neighboring state and ran into Colorado. They are counted under the state they began in.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 181:50 PM CDTF4Cimarron, OK to CO38.6440$500,000 to $5 million

Nearby

Every tornado in Colorado since 1950Warnings in force in ColoradoThe live radar over Colorado

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.