Tornadoes · United States · Colorado

2001 tornadoes in Colorado

46 tornadoes touched down in Colorado in 2001, 41 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2000 2002 The whole country in 2001

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 2001

May 28 9 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 285:26 PM MDTF0Adams0.125
May 287:25 PM MDTF2El Paso0.52004$8.0 million
May 287:25 PM MDTF1El Paso0.1504$20,000
May 287:28 PM MDTF2El Paso0.3305$100,000
May 288:30 PM MDTF0El Paso0.125
May 288:30 PM MDTF0Lincoln0.250
May 288:31 PM MDTF0Las Animas0.130$10,000
May 288:35 PM MDTF0El Paso0.150
May 289:25 PM MDTF0El Paso0.150

May 29 11 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 2911:49 AM MDTF0Prowers0.225
May 2912:07 PM MDTF0Prowers0.125
May 2912:07 PM MDTF0Prowers0.125
May 2912:25 PM MDTF0Prowers0.125
May 2912:34 PM MDTF0Prowers0.125
May 2912:36 PM MDTF0Prowers0.125
May 291:03 PM MDTF3Prowers3.050$150,000
May 292:18 PM MDTF0Cheyenne2.075
May 292:22 PM MDTF0Cheyenne1.050
May 292:35 PM MDTF0El Paso0.250
May 293:05 PM MDTF0Kiowa0.130

May 31 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 313:15 PM MDTF0Cheyenne0.575

June 4 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 44:40 PM MDTF1Adams0.2100

June 7 4 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 74:33 PM MDTF0Bent0.130
June 75:40 PM MDTF0Washington0.150
June 76:00 PM MDTF0Lincoln0.125
June 76:05 PM MDTF0Washington0.150

June 9 6 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 92:12 PM MDTF0Lincoln0.150
June 92:14 PM MDTF0Lincoln0.150
June 92:32 PM MDTF0Lincoln5.0880
June 93:10 PM MDTF0Lincoln0.150
June 94:18 PM MDTF0Lincoln0.150
June 94:35 PM MDTF0Lincoln0.51,320

June 20 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 207:16 PM MDTF0Adams0.125
June 207:25 PM MDTF0Adams0.125
June 208:10 PM MDTF0Elbert0.1150

June 29 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 293:17 PM MDTF0Logan0.125
June 293:33 PM MDTF0Logan0.125

July 1 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 16:35 PM MDTF0Elbert0.125

July 2 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 23:54 PM MDTF0Logan0.125

July 3 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 35:07 PM MDTF0Yuma1.575

July 9 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 98:44 PM MDTF0Morgan0.125
July 99:10 PM MDTF0Morgan0.125

July 26 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 262:15 PM MDTF0Adams0.150

August 1 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 17:59 PM MDTF0Washington0.125

August 2 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 23:16 PM MDTF0Adams0.125
August 23:26 PM MDTF0Adams0.125

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.