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.

  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
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)ExpiredProductOffice
01:29 UTC02:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOU
01:41 UTC02:15 UTCTornado WarningBOU
02:00 UTC02:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOU
02:17 UTC02:45 UTCTornado WarningBOU
02:40 UTC03:05 UTCTornado WarningBOU

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.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 2014-06-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 382 joules per kilogram, CIN -116, lifted condensation level 2444 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°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 2014-06-19The 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 143 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 49 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Denver, CO (KDEN), 12:00Z

9.7 hours after it, 62 km from the path. June 19, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 2014-06-19Temperature 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 -84944, lifted condensation level 1588 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°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 2014-06-19The 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 0 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 53 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
-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

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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)ReportWhereCountyRemark
01:38 UTCHAIL 2.754 W FlemingLogan, COTIME ESTIMATED
02:16 UTCTORNADO1 N BurdettWashington, COTORNADO NEAR BURDETT CEMETERY.
02:17 UTCTSTM WND GST 78AkronWashington, CO
02:26 UTCTORNADO10 N PlatnerWashington, COTORNADO ON GROUND
02:26 UTCTORNADO10 N PlatnerWashington, COTORNADO ON GROUND
02:27 UTCHAIL 1.54 W FlemingLogan, CO
02:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Ne AkronWashington, COLARGE BARN SIGNIFICANTLY DAMAGED. SIDE OF BARN AND ALUMINUM ROOF REMOVED.
02:36 UTCTORNADO5 N PlatnerWashington, COTOUCHDOWN IN OPEN FIELD WITH NO DAMAGE REPORTED
02:36 UTCTORNADOLone StarWashington, COTOUCHDOWN IN OPEN FIELD WITH NO DAMAGE REPORTED
02:40 UTCTSTM WND DMGHaxtunPhillips, COHIGH THUNDERSTORM WINDS KNOCKED DOWN NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES.
02:40 UTCTSTM WND DMGHaxtunPhillips, COHIGH THUNDERSTORM WINDS KNOCKED DOWN NUMEROUS TREES AND POWER LINES. 15 HOMES DAMAGED.
02:45 UTCTSTM WND GST 66CrookLogan, CO
02:48 UTCHAIL 1BurdettWashington, CO
02:51 UTCTSTM WND GST 591 Sse YumaYuma, CO
02:55 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 E HaxtunPhillips, COGRAIN BINS DAMAGED. 100 FT TRANSMISSION TOWER TWISTED.
03:00 UTCTSTM WND GST 714 E HaxtunPhillips, CODAMAGE 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.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 181:15 AM CDTEF0Clay, IA0.250$5,000
June 187:27 AM CDTEF0Dane, WI0.230
June 186:05 PM CDTEF1Hyde, SD0.740
June 186:07 PM CDTEF0Buffalo, SD2.0400
June 186:45 PM CDTEF0Buffalo, SD0.7250
June 186:58 PM CDTEF1Jerauld, SD0.750$15,000
June 187:00 PM CDTEF0Faulk, SD1.275
June 187:00 PM CDTEF0Hand, SD0.275
June 187:01 PM CDTEF1Jerauld, SD6.8150$50,000
June 187:08 PM CDTEF0McIntosh, ND0.020
June 187:08 PM CDTEF2Jerauld, SD0.8100$20,000
June 187:30 PM CDTEF2Jerauld, SD2.22001$5.2 million
June 187:43 PM CDTEF4Jerauld, SD11.58802$300,000
June 187:45 PM CDTEF2Jerauld, SD1.1100$25,000
June 188:49 PM EDTEF0Clarion, PA4.6150$25,000
June 188:26 PM MDTEF0Washington, CO0.150
June 188:36 PM MDTEF0Washington, CO0.150
June 1810:24 PM CDTEF0Lyon, MN0.350

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.