Tornadoes · United States · Colorado

2011 tornadoes in Colorado

21 tornadoes touched down in Colorado in 2011, 36 percent below the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2010 2012 The whole country in 2011

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 mph

    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.

Every tornado in Colorado in 2011

May 2 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 24:43 PM MDTEF0Pueblo0.375

May 17 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 175:45 PM MDTEF0Washington2.350
May 176:18 PM MDTEF0Washington3.050

May 18 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 185:55 PM MDTEF0Kiowa0.575

May 19 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 194:23 PM MDTEF0El Paso1.075$20,000

May 24 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 242:10 PM MDTEF0Prowers0.375

May 30 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 303:04 PM MDTEF0Adams0.150

June 11 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 111:22 PM MDTEF0Otero0.675
June 113:07 PM MDTEF0Las Animas0.150

June 18 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 183:52 PM MDTEF0Cheyenne0.310
June 184:24 PM MDTEF0Cheyenne0.310

June 19 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 195:59 PM MDTEF0Sedgwick0.150

July 2 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 25:11 PM MDTEF0Washington0.150
July 25:38 PM MDTEF0Washington0.150

July 6 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 65:22 PM MDTEF0Arapahoe0.150

July 10 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 101:55 PM MDTEF0Pueblo0.230$20,000

July 12 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 127:24 PM MDTEF0Elbert0.150
July 128:11 PM MDTEF0Elbert0.150

July 18 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 188:40 PM MDTEF0Montezuma0.350

August 24 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 242:24 PM MDTEF0Pueblo0.3100

August 26 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 261:45 PM MDTEF0El Paso0.150

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.