Tornadoes · United States · Colorado

2009 tornadoes in Colorado

44 tornadoes touched down in Colorado in 2009, 35 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2008 2010 The whole country in 2009

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
EF2111 to 135 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.
EF3136 to 165 mph
Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
EF5over 200 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 2009

April 17 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
April 17	3:49 PM MDT	EF0	Lincoln	0.1	50
April 17	7:01 PM MDT	EF0	Prowers	0.7	50

May 19 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 19	3:22 PM MDT	EF0	Mesa	0.3	50

May 24 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 24	2:12 PM MDT	EF0	Adams	0.1	50
May 24	3:42 PM MDT	EF0	Douglas	0.0	50

May 25 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 25	12:20 PM MDT	EF0	Kit Carson	0.3	10

June 7 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
June 7	1:05 PM MDT	EF0	Adams	0.6	50		$25,000
June 7	1:50 PM MDT	EF1	Arapahoe	5.5	100	2	$500,000
June 7	2:23 PM MDT	EF0	Arapahoe	0.1	50		$10,000
June 7	2:27 PM MDT	EF1	Elbert	0.2	50		$75,000
June 7	2:43 PM MDT	EF0	Elbert	0.1	150

June 9 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 9	5:11 PM MDT	EF0	Weld	0.1	50

June 10 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 10	2:30 PM MDT	EF0	Weld	0.0	50
June 10	4:05 PM MDT	EF0	Weld	0.1	50

June 11 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 11	6:03 PM MDT	EF0	Otero	1.1	50
June 11	6:35 PM MDT	EF0	Crowley	1.1	50

June 13 5 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)
June 13	6:01 PM MDT	EF0	Baca	0.6	50
June 13	6:36 PM MDT	EF0	Morgan	0.1	50
June 13	6:47 PM MDT	EF0	Prowers	0.6	25
June 13	7:25 PM MDT	EF0	Adams	0.1	50
June 13	8:08 PM MDT	EF0	Adams	0.1	50

June 15 3 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
June 15	1:35 PM MDT	EF2	Elbert	4.0	440	$100,000
June 15	2:04 PM MDT	EF0	Elbert	0.1	50	$75,000
June 15	2:10 PM MDT	EF0	Elbert	0.1	50

June 22 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 22	9:47 PM MDT	EF0	Weld	0.1	50
June 22	10:10 PM MDT	EF0	Weld	0.1	50

June 23 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 23	4:58 PM MDT	EF0	Elbert	0.1	50
June 23	8:07 PM MDT	EF0	Logan	0.1	50

June 26 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
June 26	4:00 PM MDT	EF0	Adams	0.1	50

July 5 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 5	6:40 PM MDT	EF0	Logan	0.1	50

July 11 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 11	5:35 PM MDT	EF0	Elbert	0.1	50

July 17 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 17	6:55 PM MDT	EF0	Bent	4.0	100

July 20 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 20	11:39 PM MDT	EF0	Douglas	0.1	50

July 23 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 23	3:15 PM MDT	EF0	Lincoln	0.1	50
July 23	7:26 PM MDT	EF0	Prowers	1.9	75

July 27 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 27	5:21 PM MDT	EF0	Lincoln	0.1	50

July 29 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 29	4:58 PM MDT	EF0	Baca	0.2	50
July 29	5:28 PM MDT	EF0	Elbert	0.3	75			$75,000

August 8 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 8	9:02 PM MDT	EF0	Weld	0.1	50

August 15 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 15	2:00 PM MDT	EF0	Moffat	2.9	50

August 17 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 17	6:22 PM MDT	EF0	Elbert	0.1	50

August 18 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
August 18	1:16 PM MDT	EF1	Park	9.3	100
August 18	2:18 PM MDT	EF0	Huerfano	1.2	75

September 3 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
September 3	3:28 PM MDT	EF0	Crowley	2.4	75

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.