EF0 tornado, Yuma, Colorado, May 24, 2016

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

May 24, 2016

Touchdown

7:36 PM MDT (01:36 UTC)

Lifted

7:39 PM MDT (01:39 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

1.2 miles (1.9 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Yuma County

Touchdown point

40.228, -102.728

Lift-off point

40.238, -102.709

Record number

1605241936-01

During the late afternoon and early evening a severe thunderstorm moved into northern Yuma county from the west. This storm left a path of straight-line wind damage behind it and continued to produce straight-line wind damage as it moved into Yuma county. A damage assessment team from the Goodland National Weather Service office examined the damage swath the storm produced between CR 45 and CR 47 that extended to CR Q. The assessment determined the damage swath extended 13 miles, had a maximum width of 3,520 yards with peak wind gusts of 110 MPH. A brief tornado also occurred with this storm. The tornado was reported at the CR 46 and CR F intersection. Later on the storm produced 3.5 inch diameter hail near Alvin.

The Emergency Manager for Washington county reported a tornado at CR 46 and CR F intersection. No damage was reported with this tornado. The tornadic circulation on radar indicated the tornado moved northeast during its lifetime.

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

17 minutes of warning. NWS GLD issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:19 UTC, 17 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 00:09 UTC and running to 05:41 UTC.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:55 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 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.

Wray (RYA), 43 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 130 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:36 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2016 tornado in ColoradoEvery tornado in Colorado since 1950Warnings in force in Colorado nowThe forecast where you are

43 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.