Tornadoes · United States · Colorado

1997 tornadoes in Colorado

47 tornadoes touched down in Colorado in 1997, 44 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

1996 1998 The whole country in 1997

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 1997

May 25 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 25	5:01 PM MDT	F0	Weld	0.1	50

May 27 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 27	2:15 PM MDT	F0	Morgan	0.1	50

June 1 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 1	9:40 PM MDT	F0	Lincoln	0.1	50

June 2 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 2	6:35 PM MDT	F0	Morgan	0.1	50

June 4 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 4	5:05 PM MDT	F0	Custer	0.1	50

June 5 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 5	7:32 PM MDT	F0	Fremont	0.1	50

June 6 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 6	2:15 PM MDT	F1	Boulder	0.1	50

June 7 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 7	10:00 PM MDT	F1	La Plata	0.5	30			$10,000

June 11 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 11	3:38 PM MDT	F0	Kiowa	0.2	50

June 12 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 12	2:19 PM MDT	F1	Douglas	1.0	50
June 12	4:03 PM MDT	F0	Kit Carson	0.1	50

June 13 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 13	6:30 PM MDT	F0	Elbert	5.0	100
June 13	8:35 PM MDT	F0	Elbert	0.1	50

June 14 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 14	8:45 PM MDT	F0	Phillips	0.1	50

June 15 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 15	3:21 PM MDT	F1	Weld	0.1	50			$50,000

June 20 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
June 20	6:02 PM MDT	F0	Logan	0.1	23
June 20	6:05 PM MDT	F0	Logan	0.1	23
June 20	6:10 PM MDT	F0	Logan	0.1	23

June 22 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 22	5:05 PM MDT	F0	Weld	0.1	50
June 22	5:10 PM MDT	F1	Adams	0.1	50
June 22	8:00 PM MDT	F1	Morgan	0.1	50	$40,000

June 23 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 23	6:57 PM MDT	F0	Adams	0.1	50

June 24 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 24	7:10 PM MDT	F0	Cheyenne	0.1	30
June 24	7:32 PM MDT	F0	Cheyenne	0.1	30

June 25 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 25	4:05 PM MDT	F0	Logan	1.0	100
June 25	4:50 PM MDT	F0	Morgan	0.1	50

July 6 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 6	5:10 PM MDT	F0	Weld	0.1	50

July 28 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 28	3:00 PM MDT	F1	Douglas	0.1	50
July 28	7:55 PM MDT	F0	Elbert	0.1	50

July 30 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 30	7:55 PM MDT	F1	Weld	0.1	50

August 5 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 5	10:40 AM MDT	F0	Alamosa	0.5	50

August 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 19	6:08 PM MDT	F0	Sedgwick	0.1	50

August 21 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 21	6:00 PM MDT	F1	Phillips	0.1	50

August 28 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 28	6:00 PM MDT	F0	Sedgwick	0.1	50

October 8 4 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
October 8	11:23 AM MDT	F0	Yuma	1.0	30
October 8	11:25 AM MDT	F0	Kit Carson	0.1	20
October 8	11:40 AM MDT	F0	Kit Carson	0.3	20
October 8	11:54 AM MDT	F0	Yuma	0.2	20

October 10 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 10	7:10 PM MDT	F2	Mineral	3.0	400			$10,000

October 11 8 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
October 11	7:10 PM MDT	F0	Otero	0.1	50
October 11	7:10 PM MDT	F1	Bent	15.0	200	6	$200,000
October 11	7:28 PM MDT	F0	Kiowa	20.0	200
October 11	8:45 PM MDT	F1	Otero	8.0	200		$70,000
October 11	9:06 PM MDT	F1	Kit Carson	0.2	20		$10,000
October 11	9:07 PM MDT	F0	Crowley	0.1	50
October 11	9:12 PM MDT	F0	Bent	0.1	50
October 11	10:40 PM MDT	F1	Bent	8.0	100		$20,000

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.