EF2 tornado, Masters, Colorado, May 7, 2016

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

May 7, 2016

Touchdown

2:55 PM MDT (20:55 UTC)

Lifted

3:10 PM MDT (21:10 UTC)

On the ground

15 minutes

Path length

8.8 miles (14.2 km)

Path width

1,320 yards (1207 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Weld County

Touchdown point

40.230, -104.170

Lift-off point

40.382, -104.143

Record number

1605071455-01

8 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS BOU, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 118 mph.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

Four tornadoes touched down, one over southern Weld county, one over northeastern Weld County and 2 across western Morgan county. The most significant tornado traveled from just south of I-76 over Weld county across Empire Reservoir and then to the west of Orchard. Several campers were destroyed at Empire Reservoir along with two minor injuries. There was a few areas of EF2 damage but most was in the EF1 category. The path length was just over 8 miles with a maximum width of 1620 yards. In addition, severe thunderstorm produced destructive hail, ranging from quarter to tennis ball size, and damaging thunderstorm winds. A woman was also injured by a lightning strike.

Storm chaser confirmed a multi-vortex tornado near Interstate 76. The tornado continue to track northeast and crossed over Empire Reservoir along the Weld/Morgan county line. At least a dozen trailers were damaged or destroyed. Two campers suffered minor injuries. Many power poles and trees were knocked down. Approximately 10 irrigation pivots were destroyed.

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

9 minutes of warning. NWS BOU issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:46 UTC, 9 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:31 UTC and running to 23:31 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 19:51 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.

The Denver radar (KFTG), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:53 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

8 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.