EF2 tornado, Simla to Calhan, Colorado, June 7, 2012

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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF2

Date

June 7, 2012

Touchdown

6:45 PM MDT (00:45 UTC)

Lifted

7:23 PM MDT (01:23 UTC)

On the ground

38 minutes

Path length

7.5 miles (12.1 km)

Path width

880 yards (805 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$50,000

Counties

Elbert and El Paso counties

Touchdown point

39.200, -104.200

Lift-off point

39.099, -104.263

Record number

1206071845-01

Severe thunderstorms brought damaging wind and hail, heavy rain, along several tornadoes, one of which was rated an EF-2. The storms produced hail from 1.5 to 2.75 inches in diameter. In addition to the large hail, heavy rainfall from 1 to 2 inches also accompanied the storms. The combination of hail and heavy rain caused extensive street flooding across Aurora, Castle Rock, Centennial, Cherry Creek, Englewood, South Denver, Highlands Ranch, Lakewood and Littleton. The hail was reportedly knee deep in several areas making roads impassable. As a result, snow plows had to be summoned to clear the streets. In Castle Rock, a King Soopers supermarket sustained extensive damage when roof partially collapsed under the weight of the hail. Total property damage estimates along the Front Range for the 6th and 7th combined was 321.1 million dollars. ||A tornado touched down in Elbert County Thursday evening, June 7th, producing considerable damage to homes and several farm buildings in south central Elbert County. The tornado was rated an EF-2 at it's strongest point near Elbert County Road 82 and just west of Elbert County Road 97. The tornado initially touched down approximately at County Road 101 about 1 mile north of County Road 90, and then traveled south-southwest into El Paso County. It was approximately one half mile wide at one point and produced a debris width of 1.5 miles. One minor injury occurred due to broken glass. Two other tornadoes touched down but did no damage. In Elbert County alone, at least 136 homes were damaged; 32 sustained moderate to severe damage. ||Severe thunderstorms also produced large hail and damaging winds across parts of Larimer, Weld and Morgan Counties. In Weld County, a flash flood washed out a section of State Highway 392 just east of Lucerne. During the storm, a culvert underneath the road was washed out in addition to a section of the roadway, approximately a 30 foot by 30 foot section.

Supercell storms produced very large hail and two tornadoes in El Paso County.

A tornado touched down and produced moderate to severe damage to numerous homes and other farm buildings in southern Elbert County. One person suffered minor injuries.

A tornado moved south-southwest into El Paso County from Elbert County. A house was damaged. Four nearby barns, one a dog kennel, were destroyed. Two dogs perished. Another ranch to the south was damaged from the tornado winds and flying debris.

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

17 minutes of warning. NWS BOU issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:28 UTC, 17 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:52 UTC and running to 02:00 UTC.

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 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 19:47 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 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.

The Denver radar (KFTG), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:45 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.

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

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2012 tornado in ColoradoEvery tornado in Colorado since 1950Warnings in force in Colorado nowThe forecast where you are

8 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.