EF0 tornado, Seibert, Colorado, May 26, 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 26, 2016

Touchdown

5:23 PM MDT (23:23 UTC)

Lifted

5:29 PM MDT (23:29 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

4.1 miles (6.6 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Kit Carson County

Touchdown point

39.361, -102.866

Lift-off point

39.419, -102.852

Record number

1605261723-01

Scattered strong to severe thunderstorms moved into East Central Colorado during the latter half of the afternoon. During the late afternoon a few of the storms produced a widespread swath of wind damage with wind speeds estimated up to 90 MPH. A wall of dust was reported along the leading edge of these intense winds. Kit Carson County law enforcement closed westbound traffic from Cheyenne Wells west on Highway 40 for two hours due to debris in the roadway. Highway 287 south of Kit Carson was also closed due to semis being blown over from the intense winds. Two tornadoes were reported ahead of the widespread damaging winds. One north of Seibert and one south of Kit Carson. No damage was reported with these tornadoes since they were over open country.

A tornado was reported north of Seibert. Based on radar imagery at the time of the report the tornado developed near the CR Z and Highway 59 intersection on the east side of the highway. The tornado then moved north-northeast before ending northeast of the CR DD and CR 16 intersection. No damage was reported with this tornado due to moving over open country.

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

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.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:05 UTC and running to 01:00 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:57 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.

Burlington (ITR), 52 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

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

14 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.