Tornadoes · United States · Colorado

2020 tornadoes in Colorado

35 tornadoes touched down in Colorado in 2020, about the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2019 2021 The whole country in 2020

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 2020

May 19 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 198:15 PM MDTUnratedOtero1.020

May 20 6 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 206:38 PM MDTEF0Weld0.950
May 206:41 PM MDTEF0Weld1.450
May 206:45 PM MDTEF0Weld4.050
May 206:46 PM MDTEF0Weld4.850
May 206:56 PM MDTEF0Weld8.050
May 207:26 PM MDTEF0Weld1.150

May 21 2 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 213:47 PM MDTUnratedProwers2.025
May 214:17 PM MDTUnratedProwers1.025

June 2 5 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 21:13 PM MDTUnratedCheyenne0.530
June 21:27 PM MDTUnratedCheyenne1.130
June 21:31 PM MDTUnratedCheyenne0.130
June 21:52 PM MDTUnratedCheyenne0.530
June 22:14 PM MDTUnratedKit Carson1.130

July 2 7 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 212:46 PM MDTEF0Washington0.050
July 21:29 PM MDTEF0Washington0.050
July 21:46 PM MDTEF0Washington0.050
July 22:19 PM MDTEF0Washington0.050
July 22:24 PM MDTEF0Washington0.050
July 22:40 PM MDTUnratedKit Carson0.530
July 24:30 PM MDTUnratedKit Carson0.630

July 8 6 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 85:49 PM MDTEF0Sedgwick0.050
July 85:59 PM MDTEF0Sedgwick0.050
July 86:04 PM MDTEF0Sedgwick0.050
July 86:04 PM MDTEF0Phillips0.050
July 86:10 PM MDTEF0Sedgwick0.050
July 86:19 PM MDTEF0Sedgwick0.050

July 12 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 125:50 PM MDTUnratedCheyenne1.575

July 14 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 147:00 PM MDTUnratedBent2.350

July 19 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 196:29 PM MDTEF0Phillips0.050

August 4 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 47:56 PM MDTEF0Lincoln0.050

August 15 3 tornadoes

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 155:33 PM MDTEF0Washington0.050
August 155:47 PM MDTEF0Washington0.050
August 155:52 PM MDTEF0Washington0.050

August 16 1 tornado

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 166:45 PM MDTUnratedOtero0.110

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.