Tornadoes · United States · Colorado · 2013

EF0 tornado, Cheyenne Wells, Colorado, May 27, 2013

This EF0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Cheyenne County on May 27, 2013, touching down at 4:37 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
May 27, 2013
Touchdown
4:37 PM MDT (22:37 UTC)
Lifted
4:43 PM MDT (22:43 UTC)
On the ground
6 minutes
Path length
0.3 miles (0.4 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Cheyenne County
Touchdown point
38.920, -102.350
Lift-off point
38.920, -102.350
Record number
1305271637-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Thunderstorms developed over East Central Colorado during the afternoon. A few of these storms produced large hail, the largest being 1.25 in diameter in Kit Carson County. In addition, three landspouts were reported in eastern Cheyenne county lasting for 5 to 8 minutes.

The landspout was observed on streaming video from a storm chaser.

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

The warnings

7 minutes of warning. NWS GLD issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:30 UTC, 7 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 19:20 UTC and running to 01:02 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
19:20 UTC01:02 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchGLD
20:57 UTC21:19 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningGLD
21:55 UTC22:30 UTCTornado WarningGLD
22:30 UTC23:00 UTCTornado WarningGLD

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 19:41 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), 12:00Z

10.6 hours before the tornado, 130 km from the path. May 27, 2013.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 2013-05-27Temperature 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 -5089, lifted condensation level 4442 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 2013-05-27The 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 -4 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 26 knots.193958Sfc1 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
-5089 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
4442 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-4 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
7 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Denver, CO (KDNR), 00:00Z

1.4 hours after it, 130 km from the path. May 28, 2013.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 2013-05-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2 joules per kilogram, CIN -113, lifted condensation level 3964 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 2013-05-28The 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 -27 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 38 knots.193958Sfc1 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
2 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-113 J/kg
Surface CAPE
88 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3964 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
5 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-27 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
41 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
9.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Burlington (ITR), 36 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
20:53 UTC716360° 11 kt1007.5-TSRA
21:12 UTC75.264.430° 14 kt171007.8
21:53 UTC796030° 13 kt191007.5
22:53 UTC775550° 15 kt1007.5
23:53 UTC775380° 11 kt1006.1

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

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 75 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:39 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
20:05 UTCHAIL 1.257 S StrattonKit Carson, CO
20:54 UTCHAIL 113 Sw BurlingtonKit Carson, COONE INCH DIAMETER HAIL FOUND ON THE GROUND AT COUNTY ROAD 43 AND COUNTY ROAD G. TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR.
21:54 UTCTORNADO15 Ne Cheyenne WellsCheyenne, COLANDSPOUT REPORTED APPROXIMATELY 15 MILES NORTHEAST OF CHEYENNE WELLS.
22:15 UTCHAIL 111 N Cheyenne WellsCheyenne, COTIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR.
22:45 UTCTORNADO7 N Cheyenne WellsCheyenne, COLANDSPOUT OBSERVED ON STORM CHASER STREAMING VIDEO.

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 May 27, 2013

15 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 2711:00 AM MDTEF0Park, WY6.320
May 272:05 PM MDTEF0Kimball, NE7.450
May 273:25 PM MDTEF0Kimball, NE5.450
May 273:38 PM MDTEF0Cheyenne, CO0.350
May 273:49 PM MDTEF0Cheyenne, CO0.350
May 273:58 PM MDTEF0Sioux, NE2.050
May 274:05 PM MDTEF0Box Butte, NE0.330
May 276:32 PM CDTEF0Smith, KS0.415
May 276:45 PM CDTEF0Smith, KS0.010
May 277:04 PM CDTEF3Smith, KS5.71,5802$1.8 million
May 277:32 PM CDTEF2Clay, NE4.5250$4.0 million
May 278:51 PM CDTEF0Jefferson, NE3.3100
May 279:02 PM CDTEF2Jefferson, NE5.9600
May 279:16 PM CDTEF0Gage, NE1.4100
May 279:40 PM CDTEF2Marshall, KS3.8150

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.