Tornadoes · United States · Colorado · 2013

EF0 tornado, Peconic, Colorado, April 8, 2013

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Kit Carson County on April 8, 2013, touching down at 6:17 PM MDT and reaching 10 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
April 8, 2013
Touchdown
6:17 PM MDT (00:17 UTC)
Lifted
6:18 PM MDT (00:18 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Kit Carson County
Touchdown point
39.570, -102.100
Lift-off point
39.570, -102.100
Record number
1304081817-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Thunderstorms developed by mid-afternoon in eastern Colorado and later moved into northwest Kansas and southwest Nebraska. Hail as large as half dollars fell near Stratton later in the afternoon, followed by a very brief tornado near Bonny Reservoir during the evening.

A brief landspout tornado was reported by storm chasers.

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.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:20 UTC and running to 02:46 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:20 UTC02:46 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchGLD
21:54 UTC23:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLD
22:40 UTC23:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLD
02:06 UTC10:30 UTCWind AdvisoryGLD
10:25 UTC09:32 UTCWinter Weather AdvisoryGLD

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 19:58 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

0.3 hours before the tornado, 102 km from the path. April 9, 2013.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 2013-04-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 105 joules per kilogram, CIN -87, lifted condensation level 2884 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 2013-04-09The 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 81 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 56 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
105 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-87 J/kg
Surface CAPE
261 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2884 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
56 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
81 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
258 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
9.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Denver, CO (KDNR), 12:00Z

11.7 hours after it, 102 km from the path. April 9, 2013.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 2013-04-09Temperature 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 -93235, lifted condensation level 710 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°0°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 2013-04-09The 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 -107 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 67 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
-93235 J/kg
Surface CAPE
8 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
710 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
67 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-107 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
73 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
0.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

St Francis (SYF), 34 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
22:35 UTC7048.56120° 22 kt27998
22:55 UTC6949120° 23 kt28997.6
23:15 UTC68.1849120° 22 kt29997.3
23:35 UTC67.8250110° 20 kt29997.6
23:55 UTC6749.64110° 21 kt25997.3
00:15 UTC66.3850100° 21 kt25997
00:35 UTC66.250.36100° 21 kt25996.6
00:55 UTC65.665190° 23 kt29996.3-RA
01:15 UTC65.84510° 0 kt999.3
01:35 UTC65.4851.4420° 9 kt999
01:55 UTC65.352100° 10 kt24998.6
02:15 UTC64.452.34100° 11 kt14998

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 41 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:14 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
22:34 UTCHAIL 0.88StrattonKit Carson, COPEA SIZE HAIL ALSO REPORTED IN STRATTON...NEARLY COVERING THE GROUND.
22:35 UTCHAIL 11 Se StrattonKit Carson, CORELAYED VIA SPOTTER NETWORK
22:40 UTCHAIL 1StrattonKit Carson, CO
22:44 UTCHAIL 1.251 E StrattonKit Carson, COREPORTED LARGE AMOUNT OF HAIL. RELAYED VIA SPOTTER NETOWRK
23:17 UTCHAIL 0.755 N BethuneKit Carson, CORELAYED VIA SPOTTER NETOWRK
23:23 UTCTSTM WND GST 556 N BurlingtonKit Carson, CORELAYED VIA SPOTTER NETWORK
23:23 UTCTSTM WND GST 55.36 N BurlingtonKit Carson, CORELAYED VIA SPOTTER NETWORK
23:27 UTCTSTM WND GST 5910 N BurlingtonKit Carson, COREPORTED VIA SPOTTER NETWORK.
23:36 UTCHAIL 0.755 W Bonny ReservoirYuma, COREPORTED VIA SPOTTER NETWORK.
00:17 UTCTORNADO5 Se Bonny ReservoirKit Carson, COBRIEF LANDSPOUT TORNADO OBSERVED, HAS DISSAPATED.
03:04 UTCHAIL 1.75StrattonKit Carson, CO

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2013 tornado in ColoradoEvery tornado in Colorado since 1950Warnings in force in Colorado nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 8, 2013

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 87:24 PM MDTEF0Washington, CO0.150
April 87:42 PM MDTEF0Washington, CO0.250
April 88:51 PM MDTEF0Washington, CO0.150
April 89:06 PM MDTEF1Dundy, NE0.875$250,000

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.