Tornadoes · United States · Colorado

2018 tornadoes in Colorado

45 tornadoes touched down in Colorado in 2018, 38 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2017 2019 The whole country in 2018

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 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 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.

Every tornado in Colorado in 2018

May 18 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 182:39 PM MDTEF0Larimer0.025

May 21 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 215:15 PM MDTEF0Elbert0.050

May 27 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 277:43 PM MDTEF0Kit Carson1.5200

May 28 20 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 281:15 PM MDTEF0Jackson0.150
May 284:19 PM MDTEF0Kit Carson0.0100
May 284:22 PM MDTEF0Washington0.050
May 285:00 PM MDTEF0Washington0.050
May 285:00 PM MDTEF0Washington0.050
May 285:00 PM MDTEF0Kit Carson1.3150
May 285:10 PM MDTEF0Kit Carson2.6200$60,000
May 285:10 PM MDTEF0Kit Carson1.8150
May 285:10 PM MDTEF0Morgan0.050
May 285:11 PM MDTEF0Washington0.150
May 285:15 PM MDTEF0Washington3.6100
May 285:23 PM MDTEF0Washington0.050
May 285:26 PM MDTEF0Kit Carson0.0150
May 285:29 PM MDTEF0Washington0.050
May 285:34 PM MDTEF0Weld0.050
May 285:35 PM MDTEF0Kit Carson0.0100
May 285:37 PM MDTEF0Weld0.050
May 285:42 PM MDTEF1Washington0.050
May 286:24 PM MDTEF0Morgan0.050
May 286:32 PM MDTEF0Morgan0.050

June 17 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 172:20 PM MDTEF0Sedgwick0.050

June 19 5 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 192:16 PM MDTEF0Weld0.050
June 194:48 PM MDTEF0Lincoln0.050
June 194:52 PM MDTEF0Lincoln0.050
June 195:11 PM MDTEF0Lincoln0.050
June 195:51 PM MDTEF0Otero0.730

June 24 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 2410:18 AM MDTEF0Routt0.330
June 2411:14 AM MDTEF0Jackson0.050

July 5 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 51:29 PM MDTEF0Park0.050

July 12 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 122:15 PM MDTEF0Pueblo0.130

July 23 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 233:46 PM MDTEF0Park0.050

July 27 5 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 273:49 PM MDTEF1Arapahoe1.3501$200,000
July 273:51 PM MDTEF1Elbert1.250
July 273:55 PM MDTEF1Adams2.050$100,000
July 274:06 PM MDTEF0Adams3.350
July 274:18 PM MDTEF0Arapahoe4.550

July 28 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 287:01 PM MDTEF0Logan0.050

July 29 4 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 293:28 PM MDTEF0Weld0.050
July 294:31 PM MDTEF2Morgan8.6400
July 294:37 PM MDTEF2Morgan7.7500
July 294:47 PM MDTEF2Morgan7.1300

August 8 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 86:36 AM MDTEF0Weld0.050

Nearby

Every tornado in Colorado since 1950Warnings in force in ColoradoThe live radar over Colorado

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.