Tornadoes · United States · Colorado · 2014
EF0 tornado, Akron Gebauer Arpt, Colorado, June 18, 2014
This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Washington County on June 18, 2014, touching down at 8:16 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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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 18, 2014
- Touchdown
- 8:16 PM MDT (02:16 UTC)
- Path length
- 0.1 miles (0.2 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Washington County
- Touchdown point
- 40.380, -102.950
- Lift-off point
- 40.380, -102.950
- Record number
- 1406182016-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Severe thunderstorms broke out across the northeast plains of Colorado. Large hail, ranging from quarter to baseball size, damaging thunderstorm winds and three short lived tornadoes. Intense straight-line winds downed trees and power lines across Washington, Sedgwick and Phillips Counties. In addition, a barn, grain bins and a transmission tower were extensively damaged.
A tornado touched down briefly near the Burdett Cemetary; no damage was reported.
A tornado touched down in an open field; no damage was reported.
The tornado touched down briefly in an open field; no damage was reported.
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.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01:29 UTC | 02:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU |
| 01:41 UTC | 02:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | BOU |
| 02:00 UTC | 02:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | BOU |
| 02:17 UTC | 02:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | BOU |
| 02:40 UTC | 03:05 UTC | Tornado Warning | BOU |
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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 01:00 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 (KDEN), 00:00Z
2.3 hours before the tornado, 62 km from the path. June 19, 2014.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 382 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -116 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 459 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2444 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 49 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 16 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 143 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 391 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.1
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 8.6 K/km
Denver, CO (KDEN), 12:00Z
9.7 hours after it, 62 km from the path. June 19, 2014.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -84944 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 4 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1588 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 53 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 2 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 0 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 204 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.2 K/km
The radar
The Denver radar (KFTG), 151 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:15 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01:38 UTC | HAIL 2.75 | 4 W Fleming | Logan, CO | TIME ESTIMATED |
| 02:16 UTC | TORNADO | 1 N Burdett | Washington, CO | TORNADO NEAR BURDETT CEMETERY. |
| 02:17 UTC | TSTM WND GST 78 | Akron | Washington, CO | |
| 02:26 UTC | TORNADO | 10 N Platner | Washington, CO | TORNADO ON GROUND |
| 02:26 UTC | TORNADO | 10 N Platner | Washington, CO | TORNADO ON GROUND |
| 02:27 UTC | HAIL 1.5 | 4 W Fleming | Logan, CO | |
| 02:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 Ne Akron | Washington, CO | LARGE BARN SIGNIFICANTLY DAMAGED. SIDE OF BARN AND ALUMINUM ROOF REMOVED. |
| 02:36 UTC | TORNADO | 5 N Platner | Washington, CO | TOUCHDOWN IN OPEN FIELD WITH NO DAMAGE REPORTED |
| 02:36 UTC | TORNADO | Lone Star | Washington, CO | TOUCHDOWN IN OPEN FIELD WITH NO DAMAGE REPORTED |
| 02:40 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Haxtun | Phillips, CO | HIGH THUNDERSTORM WINDS KNOCKED DOWN NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES. |
| 02:40 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Haxtun | Phillips, CO | HIGH THUNDERSTORM WINDS KNOCKED DOWN NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES. 15 HOMES DAMAGED. |
| 02:45 UTC | TSTM WND GST 66 | Crook | Logan, CO | |
| 02:48 UTC | HAIL 1 | Burdett | Washington, CO | |
| 02:51 UTC | TSTM WND GST 59 | 1 Sse Yuma | Yuma, CO | |
| 02:55 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 3 E Haxtun | Phillips, CO | GRAIN BINS DAMAGED. 100 FT TRANSMISSION TOWER TWISTED. |
| 03:00 UTC | TSTM WND GST 71 | 4 E Haxtun | Phillips, CO | DAMAGE TO BARN/STORAGE AREA SOUTH OF LOCATION. SOME TREES DOWN AND POWER OUTAGES. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2014 tornado in ColoradoEvery tornado in Colorado since 1950Warnings in force in Colorado nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of June 18, 2014
18 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 18 | 1:15 AM CDT | EF0 | Clay, IA | 0.2 | 50 | $5,000 | ||
| June 18 | 7:27 AM CDT | EF0 | Dane, WI | 0.2 | 30 | |||
| June 18 | 6:05 PM CDT | EF1 | Hyde, SD | 0.7 | 40 | |||
| June 18 | 6:07 PM CDT | EF0 | Buffalo, SD | 2.0 | 400 | |||
| June 18 | 6:45 PM CDT | EF0 | Buffalo, SD | 0.7 | 250 | |||
| June 18 | 6:58 PM CDT | EF1 | Jerauld, SD | 0.7 | 50 | $15,000 | ||
| June 18 | 7:00 PM CDT | EF0 | Faulk, SD | 1.2 | 75 | |||
| June 18 | 7:00 PM CDT | EF0 | Hand, SD | 0.2 | 75 | |||
| June 18 | 7:01 PM CDT | EF1 | Jerauld, SD | 6.8 | 150 | $50,000 | ||
| June 18 | 7:08 PM CDT | EF0 | McIntosh, ND | 0.0 | 20 | |||
| June 18 | 7:08 PM CDT | EF2 | Jerauld, SD | 0.8 | 100 | $20,000 | ||
| June 18 | 7:30 PM CDT | EF2 | Jerauld, SD | 2.2 | 200 | 1 | $5.2 million | |
| June 18 | 7:43 PM CDT | EF4 | Jerauld, SD | 11.5 | 880 | 2 | $300,000 | |
| June 18 | 7:45 PM CDT | EF2 | Jerauld, SD | 1.1 | 100 | $25,000 | ||
| June 18 | 8:49 PM EDT | EF0 | Clarion, PA | 4.6 | 150 | $25,000 | ||
| June 18 | 8:26 PM MDT | EF0 | Washington, CO | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| June 18 | 8:36 PM MDT | EF0 | Washington, CO | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| June 18 | 10:24 PM CDT | EF0 | Lyon, MN | 0.3 | 50 |
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.