Tornadoes · United States · Colorado · 2022
Unrated tornado, Schramm to Wray Bowman Arpt, Colorado, June 3, 2022
From Schramm to Wray Bowman Arpt, this Unrated tornado ran 3.6 miles across Yuma County on June 3, 2022, touching down at 6:58 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.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
Unratedthis tornado
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
- Unrated
- Date
- June 3, 2022
- Touchdown
- 6:58 PM MDT (00:58 UTC)
- Lifted
- 7:06 PM MDT (01:06 UTC)
- On the ground
- 8 minutes
- Path length
- 3.6 miles (5.9 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Yuma County
- Touchdown point
- 39.970, -102.502
- Lift-off point
- 39.954, -102.436
- Record number
- 2206031858-01
What the Weather Service recorded
On June 3rd, thunderstorms developed along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains during the late afternoon hours and moved eastward across east-central Colorado going into the evening hours. These thunderstorms produced hail up to a quarter in size, wind gusts up to 79 mph, and a few short lived tornadoes.
Report of a tornado being spotted at roughly 6:58 pm MDT, which lasted around 8 minutes. Visible ground circulation beneath a funnel. Estimated precise locations with radar.
Chase reported a tornado southwest of Wray, Colorado. Several videos showing a funnel as well as a debris swirl on the ground. Chaser was driving east on County Road 33, looking south. Exact location determined by radar.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
2 minutes of warning. NWS GLD issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:56 UTC, 2 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:30 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 22:15 UTC | 23:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD |
| 23:13 UTC | 00:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD |
| 23:40 UTC | 01:49 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | GLD |
| 23:53 UTC | 01:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD |
| 23:58 UTC | 00:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD |
| 00:14 UTC | 01:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD |
| 00:28 UTC | 01:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD |
| 00:44 UTC | 02:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD |
| 00:46 UTC | 01:02 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD |
| 00:56 UTC | 01:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | GLD |
| 01:17 UTC | 01:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | GLD |
| 01:29 UTC | 01:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | GLD |
| 01:54 UTC | 03:45 UTC | Flood Warning | GLD |
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 19:50 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
1.0 hours before the tornado, 66 km from the path. June 4, 2022.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -10 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2614 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 20 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 10 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 41 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 54 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 8.8 K/km
Denver, CO (KDNR), 12:00Z
11.0 hours after it, 66 km from the path. June 4, 2022.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 33 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -439 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1567 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 16 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 3 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -6 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 19 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 3.9 K/km
The surface observations
Wray (RYA), 25 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23:15 UTC | 77 | 53.6 | 180° 18 kt | 22 | 1010.8 | |
| 23:35 UTC | 77 | 53.6 | 150° 16 kt | 23 | 1010.5 | |
| 23:55 UTC | 75.2 | 53.6 | 150° 17 kt | 25 | 1010.2 | |
| 00:15 UTC | 73.4 | 53.6 | 160° 16 kt | 24 | 1009.8 | |
| 00:35 UTC | 71.6 | 55.4 | 170° 14 kt | 20 | 1009.8 | |
| 00:55 UTC | 71.6 | 55.4 | 170° 15 kt | 24 | 1010.2 | VCTS |
| 01:15 UTC | 68 | 55.4 | 250° 22 kt | 31 | 1013.9 | VCTS |
| 01:35 UTC | 55.4 | 50 | 260° 8 kt | 31 | 1015.6 | +TSRA |
| 01:55 UTC | 55.4 | 50 | 240° 10 kt | 15 | 1014.9 | TSRA |
| 02:15 UTC | 59 | 50 | 250° 9 kt | 1014.2 | -TSRA | |
| 02:35 UTC | 62.6 | 50 | 40° 18 kt | 25 | 1012.2 | RA |
| 02:55 UTC | 62.6 | 48.2 | 60° 17 kt | 24 | 1010.8 | VCTS |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Goodland radar (KGLD), 93 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:57 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:30 UTC | HAIL 0.25 | 3 Ssw Vernon | Yuma, CO | SPOTTER WAS TRAVELING SOUTH INTO STORM. THEY WERE ON THE VERY NORTHERN EDGE WHEN REPORT GIVEN. |
| 00:22 UTC | HAIL 0.25 | 5 S Lone Star | Washington, CO | ESTIMATED 35 TO 40 MPH WIND. |
| 00:30 UTC | HAIL 0.75 | Wauneta | Yuma, CO | CORRECTS PREVIOUS HAIL REPORT FROM WAUNETA. DELAYED REPORT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA. ACCUMULATING PEA TO PENNY SIZED HAIL REPORTED. TIME ESTIMATED WITH RADAR. |
| 00:36 UTC | HAIL 0.25 | 5 Nnw Yuma | Yuma, CO | HEAVY RAINFALL AS WELL. |
| 00:37 UTC | TSTM WND GST 60 | 6 Wsw Vernon | Yuma, CO | REPORTED 60 MPH GUST ON PERSONAL STATION. |
| 00:37 UTC | HAIL 1 | 6 Wsw Vernon | Yuma, CO | REPORTED HAIL GROWING FROM PEA TO QUARTER SIZED. STILL FALLING AS OF THE CALL. |
| 00:46 UTC | TSTM WND GST 51 | 2 Sse Yuma | Yuma, CO | |
| 00:48 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 4 Nw Eckley | Yuma, CO | NORTHWEST OF ECKLEY. |
| 00:53 UTC | HAIL 0.25 | 2 Se Yuma | Yuma, CO | HEAVY RAINFALL AS WELL. |
| 00:58 UTC | TORNADO | 5 S Eckley | Yuma, CO | DELAYED REPORT. WEAK TORNADO SPOTTED BEGINNING AT ROUGHLY 6:58PM. PERSISTED FOR APPROXIMATELY 8 MINUTES WITH A VISIBLE GROUND CIRCULATION AND FUNNEL. |
| 01:10 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 6 Wsw Wray | Yuma, CO | TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTED FUNNEL JUST SOUTH WEST OF WRAY, ROUGHLY 2 MILES SOUTHWEST. |
| 01:15 UTC | TORNADO | 3 W Wray | Yuma, CO | CALLER REPORTED A ROPE FUNNEL THAT BRIEFLY TOUCHED THE GROUND A FEW MILES WEST OF THE TOWN OF WRAY. TORNADO WAS NOT ON THE GROUND AS OF THE CALL. |
| 01:16 UTC | HAIL 0.5 | 1 S Eckley | Yuma, CO | PUBLIC REPORT OF HAIL AROUND 1/4 TO 1/2 AN INCH WITH HEAVY RAINFALL ESTIMATED AROUND AN INCH. |
| 01:17 UTC | TSTM WND GST 58 | 4 N Vernon | Yuma, CO | SITE WELP FARMS. |
| 01:34 UTC | TSTM WND GST 65 | 4 Ne Idalia | Yuma, CO | MESONET STATION CO047 385N220 IDALIA. |
| 01:34 UTC | NON-TSTM WND GST 65 | 4 Ne Idalia | Yuma, CO | MESONET STATION CO047 385N220 IDALIA. |
| 01:40 UTC | TORNADO | 2 E Idalia | Yuma, CO | DELAYED REPORT OF A LANDSPOUT OBSERVED LOOKING SOUTH FROM THE INTERSECTION OF US-36 AND US-385. EXACT LOCATION OF LANDSPOUT UNKNOWN. MEDIA PERSONNEL ESTIMATED IT WAS ROUGHLY 2-3 MILES SOUTH OF THE REPORT LOCATION ALONG C |
| 01:44 UTC | TSTM WND GST 79 | 4 Ne Idalia | Yuma, CO | SITE 385N21956RWS1SEC. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2022 tornado in ColoradoEvery tornado in Colorado since 1950Warnings in force in Colorado nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of June 3, 2022
5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
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.