Tornadoes · United States · Colorado · 2010

EF0 tornado, Kit Carson to Firstview, Colorado, April 22, 2010

Name: EF0 tornado, Kit Carson to Firstview, Colorado, April 22, 2010
Start: 2010-04-22T22:40:00.000Z
End: 2010-04-22T22:44:00.000Z
Location: Kit Carson to Firstview, Colorado

From Kit Carson to Firstview, this EF0 tornado ran 1.4 miles across Cheyenne County on April 22, 2010, touching down at 4:40 PM MDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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 mphthis tornado
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.

The record

Rating: EF0
Date: April 22, 2010
Touchdown: 4:40 PM MDT (22:40 UTC)
Lifted: 4:44 PM MDT (22:44 UTC)
On the ground: 4 minutes
Path length: 1.4 miles (2.2 km)
Path width: 50 yards (46 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
County: Cheyenne County
Touchdown point: 38.752, -102.833
Lift-off point: 38.766, -102.817
Record number: 1004221640-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong, slow-moving upper low pressure area moved across eastern Colorado and western Kansas during the afternoon and early evening hours. A round of severe weather occurred with thunderstorms initially producing large, damaging hail. By late afternoon, a NE-SW line of supercells developed and moved northeast across Cheyenne and Kit Carson counties, producing numerous tornadoes near the town of Kit Carson in Cheyenne county. Later in the evening, storms produced flash flooding over portions of western Kansas.

The tornado lasted about 4 minutes before roping out. No known damage.

This tornado developed southwest of Kit Carson and dissipated just west of town. No known damage.

The storm chaser reported this tornado became rain-wrapped. Tornado remained over open, rural portions of the county with no known damage.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:59 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Goodland, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Apr 22, 2:30 PM MDT, 2 hours 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 22, 2:30 PM MDT, 2 hours 10 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
230 PM MDT THU APR 22 2010

.DISCUSSION...
230 PM MDT THU APR 22 2010

H5 RIDGE AXIS WAS POSITIONED OVER THE CENTRAL ROCKIES WHILE
NORTHWEST H5 FLOW WAS OBSERVED ACROSS THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN PLAINS
THIS AFTERNOON.

WIDESPREAD TSRA IS EXPECTED AFTER 04-06Z IN LOW LVL WAA REGIME.
STORM MOTIONS SHOULD ALLOW PCPN TO IMPACT THE NORTHEAST ZONES AFTER
08-10Z. THE STRONGEST UPDRAFTS ARE EXPECTED TO IMPACT LOCATIONS
SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 70 WHERE STEEPEST H7-H5 LAPSE RATES/MUCAPE OF
400-500 J/KG MAY ALLOW A FEW HAILERS TO EXIST.

EARLY MORNING PCPN SHOULD LIFT NORTH AND EAST RAPIDLY WITH CLEARING
ANTICIPATED BY MID-LATE MORNING ACROSS THE SOUTHWEST ZONES. THIS SHOULD
ALLOW FOR DIURNAL HEATING/MODEST DESTABILIZATION AND MORE ROBUST
DEEP MOIST CONVECTION TO DEVELOP NORTHEAST OF SFC LOW AFTER 20-22Z.
REMOVED MIDDAY POPS ACROSS THE WEST/SOUTHWEST ZONES WHILE
REINTRODUCING HIGHER POPS WEIGHTED ACROSS THE SOUTHWEST ZONES AFTER
21Z. THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY SHOULD LIFT NORTH AND EAST BY 04-06Z WITH
LARGE SCALE SUBSIDENCE ANTICIPATED AFTER 06Z. WILL MAINTAIN LOW
PROBABILITIES THROUGH FRI MORNING WITH SCT TSRA ANTICIPATED UNDER H5
COLD POOL BY AFTERNOON.

H5 TROUGH IS PROGGED TO MOVE OVER THE AREA ON SAT WITH SCT SHRA
REMAINING IN THE FORECAST THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. LARGE SCALE FORCING
FOR SUBSIDENCE WILL SPREAD OVER THE REGION SAT EVENING BRINGING AN
END TO ANY LINGERING SHOWER ACTIVITY. WITH CLEARING SKIES AND LIGHT
LOW LVL FLOW, TEMPERATURES MAY FALL INTO THE LOW-MID 30S SUPPORTING
SCT FROST ACROSS THE WESTERN ZONES. THIS SCENARIO MAY BE REPEATED
TOWARD THE MIDDLE OF THE WEEK.

DAYS 4 THROUGH 7...A MID/UPPER TROUGH WILL TRANSLATE OUT OF THE
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY AREA AND OVER THE GREAT LAKES AT THE START OF
THE PERIOD WITH NORTHWEST MID/UPPER FLOW ANTICIPATED ACROSS THE
CENTRAL HIGH PLAINS. A NORTHWEST FLOW REGIME SHOULD LEAD TO
SEASONABLY COOL CONDITIONS WITH HIGHS IN THE 60S/LOWS IN THE MID/UPPER
30S. A SHORTWAVE TROUGH OVER THE NORTHERN ROCKIES IS PROGGED TO MOVE
SOUTHEAST OVER THE CENTRAL HIGH PLAINS ON MON BRINGING INCREASING
CHANCES FOR PCPN AND LOW LVL CAA MAINTAINING SEASONABLY COOL TEMPS ONCE
AGAIN.

A MID/UPPER RIDGE IS PROGGED TO AMPLIFY ACROSS THE ROCKIES TUE-WED
WITH PHASE DIFFERENCES ACROSS THE GREAT PLAINS. A SUBTLE RISE IN
TEMPS IS ANTICIPATED THROUGH THE PERIOD WITH SEASONABLE VALUES IN
THE UPPER 60S/UPPER 30S TO LOWER 40S.

&&

.AVIATION...
545 AM MDT WED APR 21 2010

FOR THE 12Z TAFS...THE MAIN PROBLEM AT BOTH TAF SITES WILL BE IFR
CEILINGS UNTIL LATE THIS MORNING. AFTER THAT...CEILINGS SHOULD
RISE INTO THE MVFR OR JUST ABOVE MVFR RANGE. DURING THE EVENING
BEFORE THE ONSET OF THUNDERSTORMS...IFR CONDITIONS WILL REDEVELOP.
BELIEVE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE AROUND DURING THE NIGHT BUT COVERAGE
AND TIMING ARE STILL UNCERTAIN. SO JUST HANDLED WITH VCTS AND CB
AT THIS TIME.

BULLER
&&

.GLD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
KS...NONE.
NE...NONE.
CO...NONE.
&&

Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 22, 10:43 AM MDT, 5 hours 57 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
1043 AM MDT THU APR 22 2010

COZ090>092-KSZ001>004-013>016-027>029-041-042-NEZ079>081-231200-
YUMA-KIT CARSON-CHEYENNE CO-CHEYENNE KS-RAWLINS-DECATUR-NORTON-
SHERMAN-THOMAS-SHERIDAN-GRAHAM-WALLACE-LOGAN-GOVE-GREELEY-WICHITA-
DUNDY-HITCHCOCK-RED WILLOW-
1030 AM MDT THU APR 22 2010

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EXTREME SOUTHWEST
NEBRASKA...NORTHWEST KANSAS AND EAST CENTRAL COLORADO.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORMS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING VERY LARGE HAIL,
DAMAGING WINDS AND A FEW TORNADOES WILL BE POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON
AND EVENING.

NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ALONG AND NORTH OF A
SLOW MOVING WARM FRONT THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS. THE GREATEST
THREAT FOR TORNADO PRODUCING STORMS IS EXPECTED ALONG AND IMMEDIATELY
NORTH OF THE WARM FRONT WHICH IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN ALONG OR SOUTH
OF INTERSTATE 70 THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS.

AS THE STORMS MOVE NORTH AND EAST ACROSS THE TRI-STATE AREA TONIGHT,
LARGE HAIL, DAMAGING WINDS AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN WILL REMAIN
POSSIBLE THROUGH LATE TONIGHT BEFORE ACTIVITY DIMINISHES TOWARD
MORNING.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY

ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL CONTINUE FROM FRIDAY INTO
SATURDAY. HOWEVER...NONE OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO
BECOME SEVERE.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 22, 3:01 PM MDT, 1 hour 39 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
301 PM MDT THU APR 22 2010

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0255 PM     HAIL             10 S SHARON SPRINGS     38.75N 101.75W
04/22/2010  E1.25 INCH       WALLACE            KS   TRAINED SPOTTER

            QUARTER TO HALF DOLLAR SIZE HAIL WAS OBSERVED.

&&

JRM

Special weather statement, Apr 22, 3:28 PM MDT, 1 hour 12 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
328 PM MDT THU APR 22 2010

COZ091-092-222200-
CHEYENNE COUNTY-KIT CARSON COUNTY-
328 PM MDT THU APR 22 2010

...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN GOODLAND HAS ISSUED A SIGNIFICANT
WEATHER ADVISORY FOR CHEYENNE COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL COLORADO AND KIT
CARSON COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL COLORADO...

AT 327 PM MDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A
STRONG THUNDERSTORM 12 MILES NORTH OF FIRSTVIEW...AND MOVING NORTH AT
35 MPH.

PENNY TO NICKEL SIZE HAIL...AND WINDS TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH
THIS STORM.

BE PREPARED TO TAKE SHELTER IN THE EVENT THESE STORMS INTENSIFY AND
BECOME SEVERE.

FOLTZ

Local storm report, Apr 22, 3:55 PM MDT, 45 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
355 PM MDT THU APR 22 2010

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0332 PM     HAIL             13 SW GOODLAND          39.22N 101.88W
04/22/2010  M0.88 INCH       SHERMAN            KS   PUBLIC

            REPORT FROM COCORAHS OBSERVER

&&

JRM

Local storm report, Apr 22, 4:05 PM MDT, 35 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
405 PM MDT THU APR 22 2010

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0404 PM     HAIL             KIT CARSON              38.76N 102.80W
04/22/2010  E1.75 INCH       CHEYENNE           CO   LAW ENFORCEMENT

&&

JRM

Local storm report, Apr 22, 4:09 PM MDT, 31 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
409 PM MDT THU APR 22 2010

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0355 PM     HAIL             KIT CARSON              38.76N 102.80W
04/22/2010  M1.50 INCH       CHEYENNE           CO   CO-OP OBSERVER

            REPORTED PING PONG BALL-SIZED HAIL COVERING GROUND 1.5
            INCHES DEEP.

&&

MLAMMERS

Local storm report, Apr 22, 4:29 PM MDT, 11 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GOODLAND KS
429 PM MDT THU APR 22 2010

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0424 PM     TORNADO          5 NE KIT CARSON         38.81N 102.73W
04/22/2010                   CHEYENNE           CO   STORM CHASER

            PUBLIC REPORTED TORNADO ON THE GROUND LASTED 3 TO 4
            MINUTES. TORNADO ROPING OUT.

&&

MLAMMERS

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Denver, CO (KDNR), 12:00Z

10.7 hours before the tornado, 128 km from the path. April 22, 2010.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 24 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -16 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 20 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 531 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 38 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 115 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 151 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0
0-3 km lapse rate: 6.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Denver, CO (KDNR), 00:00Z

1.3 hours after it, 128 km from the path. April 23, 2010.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.

Hodograph

Mixed-layer CAPE: 7 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -120 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 249 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 939 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 44 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 5 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -62 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 39 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: -0.0
Supercell composite: -0.1
0-3 km lapse rate: 6.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Burlington (ITR), 71 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 Goodland radar (KGLD), 118 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:41 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 track Every 2010 tornado in Colorado Every tornado in Colorado since 1950 Warnings in force in Colorado now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 22, 2010

41 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
April 22	1:05 PM MDT	EF0	Bent, CO	4.7	100
April 22	1:08 PM MDT	EF0	Bent, CO	2.5	50
April 22	1:35 PM MDT	EF0	Bent, CO	0.6	50
April 22	1:48 PM MDT	EF0	Bent, CO	1.9	150
April 22	1:57 PM MDT	EF0	Bent, CO	0.6	50
April 22	2:22 PM MDT	EF0	Kiowa, CO	3.4	50
April 22	2:29 PM MDT	EF1	Kiowa, CO	7.2	200	$1,000
April 22	2:36 PM MDT	EF0	Kiowa, CO	0.4	50
April 22	2:45 PM MDT	EF0	Kiowa, CO	2.6	50
April 22	2:55 PM MDT	EF0	Kiowa, CO	0.7	25
April 22	2:56 PM MDT	EF0	Kiowa, CO	1.4	50
April 22	3:00 PM MDT	EF0	Kiowa, CO	1.2	75
April 22	3:12 PM MDT	EF0	Kiowa, CO	1.2	50
April 22	3:28 PM MDT	EF0	Elbert, CO	0.1	50
April 22	3:38 PM MDT	EF0	Adams, CO	0.1	50
April 22	4:48 PM CDT	EF1	Kearny, KS	9.4	1,760	$180,000
April 22	4:59 PM CDT	EF0	Armstrong, TX	1.8	50
April 22	5:04 PM CDT	EF0	Kearny, KS	4.9	440
April 22	5:10 PM CDT	EF0	Donley, TX	5.2	100
April 22	5:20 PM CDT	EF1	Armstrong, TX	10.3	100	$3,000
April 22	4:24 PM MDT	EF0	Cheyenne, CO	2.3	75
April 22	5:32 PM CDT	EF0	Kearny, KS	2.6	150
April 22	5:38 PM CDT	EF0	Gray, TX	0.5	25
April 22	5:51 PM CDT	EF0	Beaver, OK	0.2	25
April 22	6:07 PM CDT	EF0	Donley, TX	0.6	25
April 22	6:10 PM CDT	EF1	Finney, KS	2.7	880	$800
April 22	5:12 PM MDT	EF0	Cheyenne, CO	2.6	75
April 22	6:17 PM CDT	EF0	Finney, KS	0.9	75
April 22	6:27 PM CDT	EF0	Scott, KS	3.3	440
April 22	6:30 PM CDT	EF0	Gray, TX	4.0	440
April 22	6:39 PM CDT	EF0	Kearny, KS	2.7	200
April 22	6:40 PM CDT	EF0	Gray, TX	4.5	100
April 22	5:52 PM MDT	EF0	Cheyenne, CO	1.1	25
April 22	6:05 PM MDT	EF0	Cheyenne, CO	1.4	25
April 22	7:06 PM CDT	EF1	Scott, KS	7.2	440	$210,000
April 22	7:20 PM CDT	EF2	Motley, TX	9.0	1,300	$100,000
April 22	7:40 PM CDT	EF0	Scott, KS	1.4	150
April 22	7:46 PM CDT	EF3	Cottle, TX	12.3	975	$300,000
April 22	7:57 PM CDT	EF0	Lane, KS	3.7	150
April 22	9:05 PM CDT	EF0	Cottle, TX	5.0	150
April 22	9:21 PM CDT	EF0	Gove, KS	0.5	10

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.