Tornadoes · United States · Colorado

1990 tornadoes in Colorado

55 tornadoes touched down in Colorado in 1990, 69 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1989 1991 The whole country in 1990

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 1990

April 26 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 26	7:48 PM MDT	F0	Prowers	0.2	30

May 13 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 13	5:12 PM MDT	F0	Sedgwick	0.2	20			$500 to $5,000

May 15 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 15	5:40 PM MDT	F1	Yuma	0.7	50
May 15	6:20 PM MDT	F0	Logan	0.2	23

May 29 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 29	1:31 PM MDT	F0	Denver	0.8	20			$5,000 to $50,000
May 29	1:35 PM MDT	F1	Adams	1.1	50			$50,000 to $500,000

June 1 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 1	6:03 PM MDT	F0	Boulder	0.2	20
June 1	6:25 PM MDT	F0	Adams	0.1	13
June 1	7:05 PM MDT	F1	Weld	0.5	60
June 1	9:05 PM MDT	F1	Yuma	0.5	40	$5,000 to $50,000
June 1	9:20 PM MDT	F0	Yuma	0.1	10

June 6 8 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
June 6	5:30 PM MDT	F0	Larimer	1.0	23		$500 to $5,000
June 6	7:10 PM MDT	F3	Elbert	7.0	500		$500 to $5,000
June 6	7:45 PM MDT	F0	Arapahoe	0.2	23
June 6	8:45 PM MDT	F3	Lincoln	7.0	500	14	$5 million to $50 million
June 6	8:51 PM MDT	F0	Lincoln	0.1	10
June 6	9:47 PM MDT	F0	El Paso	0.1	10
June 6	10:05 PM MDT	F0	El Paso	0.2	10
June 6	11:30 PM MDT	F2	El Paso	2.0	100	2	$50,000 to $500,000

June 7 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 7	12:55 AM MDT	F0	El Paso	0.1	10
June 7	7:00 PM MDT	F0	Adams	0.1	20

June 9 9 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 9	4:30 PM MDT	F0	Las Animas	0.1	13
June 9	5:27 PM MDT	F0	El Paso	0.2	30
June 9	5:59 PM MDT	F0	Weld	3.0	23
June 9	6:04 PM MDT	F1	Larimer	1.0	50
June 9	6:05 PM MDT	F0	El Paso	20.0	50
June 9	6:09 PM MDT	F2	Larimer	23.0	200	$5,000 to $50,000
June 9	6:41 PM MDT	F0	Weld	3.0	40
June 9	6:58 PM MDT	F0	El Paso	0.1	13	$500 to $5,000
June 9	8:55 PM MDT	F0	Kiowa	0.2	23	$5,000 to $50,000

June 14 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 14	8:50 PM MDT	F2	Morgan	7.0	100	$50,000 to $500,000
June 14	9:45 PM MDT	F1	Washington	2.0	80
June 14	10:00 PM MDT	F0	Washington	1.0	50
June 14	10:19 PM MDT	F0	Washington	0.3	23

June 15 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 15	7:28 PM MDT	F1	Morgan	10.0	73

June 19 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
June 19	9:58 PM MDT	F0	Prowers	0.1	13
June 19	10:05 PM MDT	F0	Prowers	0.2	20
June 19	10:20 PM MDT	F0	Prowers	0.1	20

June 30 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 30	5:50 PM MDT	F0	Adams	0.1	20

July 8 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 8	11:38 AM MDT	F0	Larimer	3.0	13

July 9 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
July 9	6:30 PM MDT	F0	Elbert	0.1	10
July 9	6:30 PM MDT	F0	El Paso	0.1	10
July 9	8:00 PM MDT	F0	Adams	0.3	20

July 11 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 11	3:40 PM MDT	F0	Jefferson	0.1	10
July 11	4:15 PM MDT	F1	Douglas	0.5	20			$50,000 to $500,000

July 14 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 14	7:40 PM MDT	F0	Baca	0.2	13

July 20 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
July 20	1:50 PM MDT	F0	Conejos	1.5	13	$5,000 to $50,000
July 20	2:05 PM MDT	F0	El Paso	4.0	23
July 20	3:05 PM MDT	F0	El Paso	1.0	13
July 20	3:05 PM MDT	F0	El Paso	0.1	13
July 20	4:05 PM MDT	F0	El Paso	0.1	10

August 1 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 1	4:14 PM MDT	F0	Douglas	0.1	13

August 14 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 14	2:45 PM MDT	F0	Kit Carson	0.5	20

August 22 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 22	3:45 PM MDT	F1	Kit Carson	4.0	50
August 22	4:10 PM MDT	F0	Kit Carson	0.1	13

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.