Tornadoes · United States · Colorado · 2015

EF0 tornado, Arickaree, Colorado, June 5, 2015

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Washington County on June 5, 2015, touching down at 4:54 PM MDT and reaching 100 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 5, 2015
Touchdown
4:54 PM MDT (22:54 UTC)
Lifted
5:01 PM MDT (23:01 UTC)
On the ground
7 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Washington County
Touchdown point
39.690, -103.060
Lift-off point
39.690, -103.060
Record number
1506051654-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Severe thunderstorms broke out across the northeast and east central plains of Colorado. Two tornadoes touched down; one caused minor damage. In addition, the storms produced large hail, up to golfball size.

A large cone tornado touched down in open country. No damage was observed.

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

The warnings

10 minutes of warning. NWS BOU issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:44 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:11 UTC and running to 01:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
08:21 UTC11:15 UTCFlood AdvisoryBOU
19:11 UTC01:00 UTCTornado WatchBOU
21:36 UTC04:00 UTCFlash Flood WatchBOU
21:41 UTC22:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOU
22:34 UTC23:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOU
22:36 UTC00:09 UTCFlood AdvisoryBOU
22:44 UTC23:15 UTCTornado WarningBOU
22:58 UTC23:30 UTCTornado WarningBOU
23:24 UTC00:03 UTCSevere Thunderstorm 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:28 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), 12:00Z

10.9 hours before the tornado, 25 km from the path. June 5, 2015.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 2015-06-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 356 joules per kilogram, CIN -70, lifted condensation level 888 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 12:00Z on 2015-06-05The 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 -12 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 22 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
356 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-70 J/kg
Surface CAPE
252 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
888 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-12 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
68 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Denver, CO (KDEN), 00:00Z

1.1 hours after it, 25 km from the path. June 6, 2015.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 2015-06-06Temperature 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 -85126, lifted condensation level 1609 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 00:00Z on 2015-06-06The 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 -1 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 40 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-85126 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1286 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1609 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-1 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
122 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.4
0-3 km lapse rate
7.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 122 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:55 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
21:46 UTCHAIL 1.75GenoaLincoln, CO
22:08 UTCHAIL 0.882 Nnw ThurmanWashington, CO
23:01 UTCTORNADO4 Ssw Arickaree SchoolWashington, COLARGE CONE TORNADO ON GROUND PERSISTED FOR 7 MINUTES BEFORE BECOMING RAIN WRAPPED.
23:09 UTCHAIL 212 S CopeKit Carson, COAVERAGE SIZE OF THE HAIL WAS NICKEL.
23:20 UTCTORNADO9 N VonaKit Carson, COSHERIFF OFFICER REPORTED A LARGE TORNADO NORTH OF VONA. LOCATION ESTIMATED BY RADAR.
23:20 UTCTORNADO9 N VonaKit Carson, COLARGE CONE TORANDO OBSERVED NORTH OF VONA. LOCATION ESTIMATED BY RADAR.
23:45 UTCTORNADO9 S KirkKit Carson, COLARGE TORNADO CROSSED THE ROAD ONE MILE IN FRONT OF CHASER.
00:00 UTCHAIL 1.25KirkYuma, CO
01:15 UTCFLASH FLOOD8 Wsw IdaliaYuma, COLARGE AREA OF RAIDLY RUSH WATER OVER COUNTY RD V SOUTH OF RT 35. ROAD IMPASSABLE. SIGNIFICANT FIELD FLOODING IN AREA.
01:40 UTCHAIL 1YumaYuma, CO

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2015 tornado in ColoradoEvery tornado in Colorado since 1950Warnings in force in Colorado nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 5, 2015

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 53:24 AM MDTEF2Kit Carson, CO1.5300$30,000
June 51:13 PM MDTEF1Elbert, CO0.650
June 53:15 PM PDTEF1Mineral, NV1.540
June 56:20 PM MDTEF0Kit Carson, CO4.5150
June 56:45 PM MDTEF0Kit Carson, CO2.0150
June 59:24 PM CDTEF0Logan, KS8.6100
June 59:30 PM CDTEF0Logan, KS0.110

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.