Tornadoes · United States · Colorado

1988 tornadoes in Colorado

47 tornadoes touched down in Colorado in 1988, 44 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1987 1989 The whole country in 1988

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.

F040 to 72 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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 1988

April 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 19	4:52 PM MDT	F1	Weld	0.3	60			$5,000 to $50,000

April 21 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 21	4:35 PM MDT	F0	Adams	0.2	30
April 21	7:00 PM MDT	F1	Fremont	0.3	30	$5,000 to $50,000
April 21	7:30 PM MDT	F1	Weld	0.5	40	$50 to $500

April 24 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 24	2:04 PM MDT	F1	Weld	2.0	40

May 2 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 2	11:12 AM MDT	F1	Prowers	0.5	40

May 19 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 19	3:57 PM MDT	F2	Yuma	1.5	73			$50,000 to $500,000
May 19	4:22 PM MDT	F1	Kiowa	1.0	40

May 30 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 30	9:30 PM MDT	F2	Kit Carson	1.0	50	$5,000 to $50,000
May 30	10:00 PM MDT	F0	Prowers	0.5	30
May 30	10:16 PM MDT	F0	Cheyenne	1.0	20

May 31 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 31	1:25 AM MDT	F1	Logan	2.0	50			$5,000 to $50,000

June 5 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 5	4:05 PM MDT	F2	Adams	2.0	50			$50,000 to $500,000
June 5	4:25 PM MDT	F2	Boulder	0.5	50			$50,000 to $500,000

June 8 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 8	7:05 PM MDT	F1	Adams	1.5	30
June 8	7:24 PM MDT	F1	Adams	0.5	30

June 10 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 10	5:17 PM MDT	F0	Arapahoe	0.2	20
June 10	5:35 PM MDT	F0	Arapahoe	0.1	20

June 13 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 13	3:22 PM MDT	F1	Adams	0.2	30
June 13	6:00 PM MDT	F2	Logan	1.5	50			$50,000 to $500,000

June 15 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
June 15	5:03 PM MDT	F1	Adams	2.0	100		$500 to $5,000
June 15	5:16 PM MDT	F2	Denver	0.5	400		$500,000 to $5 million
June 15	5:24 PM MDT	F3	Denver	2.5	200	7	$5 million to $50 million
June 15	5:30 PM MDT	F1	Adams	1.0	100
June 15	5:38 PM MDT	F1	Larimer	1.0	50		$500 to $5,000

June 22 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 22	5:30 PM MDT	F1	Adams	0.5	40

June 25 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
June 25	1:55 PM MDT	F1	Adams	0.5	40
June 25	2:35 PM MDT	F1	Adams	0.5	30
June 25	3:46 PM MDT	F1	Larimer	1.0	63

June 26 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 26	2:37 PM MDT	F1	Adams	1.0	30

July 7 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 7	1:30 PM MDT	F1	Kit Carson	0.5	30
July 7	7:12 PM MDT	F1	Weld	0.5	30

July 8 8 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
July 8	4:01 PM MDT	F0	Adams	0.5	13
July 8	5:45 PM MDT	F1	Adams	4.5	30
July 8	6:00 PM MDT	F0	Adams	1.0	20
July 8	6:15 PM MDT	F1	Adams	1.5	30
July 8	6:17 PM MDT	F1	Adams	0.5	30
July 8	6:31 PM MDT	F1	Logan	1.5	40
July 8	6:31 PM MDT	F1	Logan	1.0	40
July 8	6:45 PM MDT	F1	Logan	0.5	30

July 9 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 9	9:11 PM MDT	F1	Adams	1.0	30

July 14 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 14	4:15 PM MDT	F1	Elbert	0.5	30

July 18 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 18	7:56 PM MDT	F1	Morgan	0.3	30

July 28 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 28	7:00 PM MDT	F1	Lincoln	1.0	30

August 7 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 7	3:35 PM MDT	F0	Larimer	0.1	20

August 16 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 16	3:15 PM MDT	F1	Yuma	0.5	30			$500 to $5,000

August 17 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 17	5:30 PM MDT	F1	Yuma	1.0	30			$5,000 to $50,000

Nearby

Every tornado in Colorado since 1950 Warnings in force in Colorado The 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.