Tornadoes · United States · Colorado

2006 tornadoes in Colorado

20 tornadoes touched down in Colorado in 2006, 39 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2005 2007 The whole country in 2006

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 2006

May 30 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 305:17 PM MDTF0Baca0.250

May 31 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 314:32 PM MDTF0Weld0.150

June 20 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 205:00 PM MDTF0Logan0.150

June 21 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 215:25 PM MDTF1Rio Blanco1.050$40,000
June 216:46 PM MDTF0Yuma0.320

June 22 5 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 221:30 PM MDTF0Douglas0.150
June 221:32 PM MDTF1Elbert0.1100
June 222:45 PM MDTF0Elbert0.150
June 223:20 PM MDTF0Elbert0.150
June 225:28 PM MDTF0Prowers1.0100

June 26 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 263:12 PM MDTF0Alamosa5.0100

July 4 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 47:55 PM MDTF0Arapahoe0.150
July 48:21 PM MDTF0Elbert0.150

July 9 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 912:35 PM MDTF0Alamosa0.550
July 94:31 PM MDTF1Pueblo2.075$100,000

July 30 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 303:00 PM MDTF0Moffat3.0100

August 20 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 206:41 PM MDTF0Adams0.150
August 206:50 PM MDTF0Adams0.150
August 206:58 PM MDTF0Arapahoe0.150

August 26 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 264:05 PM MDTF1Moffat8.050

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.