Tornadoes · United States · Colorado · 2010

EF0 tornado, Prospect, Colorado, June 10, 2010

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Weld County on June 10, 2010, touching down at 7:20 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.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. EF4166 to 200 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. 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.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
June 10, 2010
Touchdown
7:20 PM MDT (01:20 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Weld County
Touchdown point
40.060, -104.420
Lift-off point
40.060, -104.420
Record number
1006101920-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A complex of severe thunderstorms hammered the northeast plains of Colorado. Hail ranged in size from quarter to nearly softball size. The largest hail was observed over eastern portions of Arapahoe and Elbert Counties, around Deer Trail and Elizabeth. The storms continued to spread northeast across the remainder of the northeast plains. In addition to the hail, four tornadoes touched down but no damage was observed.

A tornado touched down briefly but did no damage.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 22:47 UTC and running to 05:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
15:28 UTC16:20 UTCFlood AdvisoryBOU
22:38 UTC23:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOU
22:47 UTC05:00 UTCTornado WatchBOU
22:56 UTC23:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOU
23:16 UTC00:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOU
23:20 UTC00:45 UTCFlood AdvisoryBOU
23:40 UTC00:30 UTCTornado WarningBOU
23:49 UTC00:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOU
00:11 UTC00:45 UTCTornado WarningBOU
00:11 UTC01:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOU
00:51 UTC01:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOU
01:43 UTC02:29 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOU
02:05 UTC02:46 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOU

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:40 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.

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), 00:00Z

1.3 hours before the tornado, 104 km from the path. June 11, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 2010-06-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 658 joules per kilogram, CIN -78, lifted condensation level 2022 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
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.
HodographHodograph, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 2010-06-11The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -1 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 41 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
658 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-78 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1290 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2022 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
1 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-1 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
355 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
6.6
0-3 km lapse rate
8.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Denver, CO (KDNR), 12:00Z

10.7 hours after it, 104 km from the path. June 11, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 2010-06-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -73589, lifted condensation level 1293 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
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.
HodographHodograph, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 2010-06-11The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -56 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 34 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-73589 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1293 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-56 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
44 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.6
0-3 km lapse rate
5.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Denver radar (KFTG), 32 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:18 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
23:14 UTCHAIL 220 Ne Ponderosa ParkArapahoe, CO
23:14 UTCHAIL 32 Nw Deer TrailArapahoe, COHAIL 3.5 INCHES
23:30 UTCHAIL 29 Ene ParkerElbert, CO
23:53 UTCHAIL 1.58 Se Arapahoe ParkElbert, CO
00:20 UTCHAIL 12 Wsw StrasburgArapahoe, CO
00:25 UTCHAIL 13 Sse HoytAdams, CO
00:27 UTCHAIL 15 N DenverAdams, CO
00:32 UTCHAIL 1ThorntonAdams, CO
00:32 UTCHAIL 27 S BennettArapahoe, CO
00:36 UTCHAIL 24 Sse ByersArapahoe, CO
00:44 UTCHAIL 1.51 S ByersArapahoe, CO
00:44 UTCHAIL 1.53 Wsw Arapahoe ParkArapahoe, CO
00:50 UTCHAIL 12 Ne ThorntonAdams, CO
00:53 UTCHAIL 12 Ne Deer TrailArapahoe, CO
00:56 UTCHAIL 12 Sse LochbuieAdams, CO
00:56 UTCHAIL 2.52 N Deer TrailArapahoe, CO
00:59 UTCHAIL 3N Deer TrailArapahoe, CO
01:00 UTCHAIL 2.53 Ne Deer TrailArapahoe, CO
01:00 UTCHAIL 2.53 Nne Deer TrailArapahoe, CO
01:10 UTCTORNADO4 Ne Deer TrailArapahoe, CO
01:15 UTCHAIL 0.882 Ssw ThorntonAdams, CO
01:20 UTCTORNADO1 Ssw Prospect ValleyWeld, CO
01:30 UTCHAIL 1.51 W Prospect ValleyWeld, CO
01:45 UTCHAIL 1.57 Se RoggenWeld, CO
02:17 UTCHAIL 1.753 Nne ByersAdams, CO
02:20 UTCHAIL 1.755 Se RoggenWeld, CO
03:38 UTCHAIL 1.754 Sse AuroraArapahoe, CO

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2010 tornado in ColoradoEvery tornado in Colorado since 1950Warnings in force in Colorado nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 10, 2010

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 1010:56 AM CDTEF1Houston, TX2.875$75,000
June 1011:29 AM CDTEF0Houston, TX1.525$10,000
June 106:52 PM MDTEF0Arapahoe, CO0.150
June 107:46 PM MDTEF0Washington, CO0.1100
June 109:27 PM MDTEF0Washington, CO0.150

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.