Tornadoes · United States · Colorado · 2020

EF0 tornado, Paoli, Colorado, July 19, 2020

This EF0 tornado ran 0.0 miles across Phillips County on July 19, 2020, touching down at 6:29 PM MDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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 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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
July 19, 2020
Touchdown
6:29 PM MDT (00:29 UTC)
Lifted
6:30 PM MDT (00:30 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.0 miles (0.0 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Phillips County
Touchdown point
40.690, -102.430
Lift-off point
40.690, -102.430
Record number
2007191829-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Severe thunderstorms produced intense winds across portions of Logan and Phillips counties. Tree and crop damage was observed. In addition, a power pole was knocked down. The storms also produced quarter size hail and one brief tornado in an open field.

A weak tornado touched down briefly in an open field. No damage was observed.

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

The warnings

15 minutes of warning. NWS BOU issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:14 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:45 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 22:08 UTC and running to 01:15 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:08 UTC01:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchBOU
23:47 UTC00:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOU
23:48 UTC01:45 UTCFlood AdvisoryBOU
00:14 UTC00:45 UTCTornado WarningBOU
00:34 UTC01:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningBOU

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 20:02 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 air that afternoon

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.

Denver, CO (KDNR), 00:00Z

0.5 hours before the tornado, 114 km from the path. July 20, 2020.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 2020-07-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -118, lifted condensation level 2804 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Denver, CO at 00:00Z on 2020-07-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 53 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 18 knots.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-118 J/kg
Surface CAPE
4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2804 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
53 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
82 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
8.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Denver, CO (KDNR), 12:00Z

11.5 hours after it, 114 km from the path. July 20, 2020.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 2020-07-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 3 joules per kilogram, CIN -356, lifted condensation level 3129 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Denver, CO at 12:00Z on 2020-07-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 48 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 21 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
3 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-356 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3129 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
48 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
46 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Goodland radar (KGLD), 160 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:30 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.

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
23:37 UTCTSTM WND GST 606 Ne SterlingLogan, CO.
23:37 UTCTSTM WND GST 606 Ne SterlingLogan, CO
23:37 UTCHAIL 16 Ne SterlingLogan, CO.
23:37 UTCHAIL 16 Ne SterlingLogan, CO
23:40 UTCTSTM WND GST 71CrookLogan, CO
00:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGIliffLogan, COL06 REPORTED BROKEN TREE LIMBS 6-8 INCHES IN DIAMETER, A POWER POLE KNOCKED DOWN, AND EXTENSIVE CROP DAMAGE.
00:00 UTCHAIL 1IliffLogan, COL06.
00:10 UTCHAIL 17 Ne SterlingLogan, COL06.
00:21 UTCTSTM WND GST 612 S HaxtunPhillips, CO
00:30 UTCTORNADO 14 Se FairfieldPhillips, COPUBLIC REPORTED BRIEF TORNADO.
00:30 UTCTORNADO4 Se FairfieldPhillips, COCORRECTS PREVIOUS TORNADO REPORT FROM 4 SE FAIRFIELD. PUBLIC REPORTED BRIEF TORNADO.
00:30 UTCTORNADO4 Se FairfieldPhillips, COPUBLIC REPORTED BRIEF TORNADO.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2020 tornado in ColoradoEvery tornado in Colorado since 1950Warnings in force in Colorado nowThe forecast where you are

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.