Tornadoes · United States · Colorado · 2006
F1 tornado, Meeker, Colorado, June 21, 2006
This F1 tornado ran 1.0 miles across Rio Blanco County on June 21, 2006, touching down at 5:25 PM MDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $40,000 of property damage.
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 mphthis tornado
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.
The record
- Rating
- F1
- Date
- June 21, 2006
- Touchdown
- 5:25 PM MDT (23:25 UTC)
- Path length
- 1.0 miles (1.6 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $40,000
- County
- Rio Blanco County
- Touchdown point
- 40.030, -108.100
- Lift-off point
- 40.030, -108.100
- Record number
- 659
What the Weather Service recorded
A tornado destroyed a carport, a Basque sheepherder's wagon, and snapped several two-foot diameter trees off, as well as a number of smaller trees as it traveled from southwest to northeast across the property of two residences. A shed received extensive damage after being struck by flying objects. Debris from the property was found several hundred feet from the homes. The roof of a modular home was partially lifted and shingles were ripped from the roof. The tornado also blew apart braced frame walls of a new home under construction. The tornado then moved across hay and alfalfa fields before lifting.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The surface observations
Meeker (EEO), 18 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 UTC |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Grand Junction radar (KGJX), 108 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:25 UTC.
Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track
Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2006 tornado in ColoradoEvery tornado in Colorado since 1950Warnings in force in Colorado nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of June 21, 2006
13 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 21 | 3:45 PM CDT | F0 | Deaf Smith, TX | 0.1 | 25 | |||
| June 21 | 6:10 PM EDT | F0 | Lenawee, MI | 2.2 | 100 | $40,000 | ||
| June 21 | 5:30 PM CDT | F0 | Hansford, TX | 0.2 | 50 | |||
| June 21 | 5:38 PM CDT | F0 | Hansford, TX | 0.2 | 50 | |||
| June 21 | 7:17 PM EDT | F2 | Charlotte, FL | 3.0 | 70 | 3 | $500,000 | |
| June 21 | 6:24 PM CDT | F0 | Texas, OK | 0.2 | 50 | |||
| June 21 | 6:27 PM CDT | F0 | Beaver, OK | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| June 21 | 7:27 PM EDT | F0 | Charlotte, FL | 0.5 | 30 | $30,000 | ||
| June 21 | 6:27 PM CDT | F0 | Beaver, OK | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| June 21 | 6:46 PM CDT | F1 | Texas, OK | 2.0 | 300 | $700,000 | ||
| June 21 | 7:08 PM CDT | F0 | Sherman, TX | 0.1 | 25 | |||
| June 21 | 7:10 PM CDT | F0 | Hansford, TX | 0.2 | 50 | |||
| June 21 | 6:46 PM MDT | F0 | Yuma, CO | 0.3 | 20 |
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.