Tornadoes · United States · Colorado · 2023

EF0 tornado, (Kspd)Springfield Awos to Campo, Colorado, July 13, 2023

From (Kspd)Springfield Awos to Campo, this EF0 tornado ran 0.0 miles across Baca County on July 13, 2023, touching down at 7:44 PM MDT and reaching 10 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 13, 2023
Touchdown
7:44 PM MDT (01:44 UTC)
Lifted
7:45 PM MDT (01:45 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.0 miles (0.0 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Baca County
Touchdown point
37.090, -102.590
Lift-off point
37.090, -102.590
Record number
2307131944-01

What the Weather Service recorded

The continuations of hail, wind, and tornadoes continues through mid-July as northwesterly upper level flow develops once again over southern Colorado. Anomalous amounts of low level moisture remain over the region due to record breaking precipitation in June and an active early July. Enhanced wind shear due from the upper level northwesterly flow created an environment conducive to severe thunderstorms.

Brief touchdown - only 30 seconds.

Brief touchdown - lasted 20 seconds.

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

The warnings

42 minutes of warning. NWS PUB issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:02 UTC, 42 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 22:02 UTC and running to 04:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
18:29 UTC22:02 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchPUB
21:27 UTC22:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUB
22:02 UTC04:00 UTCTornado WatchPUB
22:04 UTC03:15 UTCFlash Flood WarningPUB
22:29 UTC23:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUB
23:11 UTC00:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUB
23:12 UTC23:45 UTCTornado WarningPUB
23:23 UTC00:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUB
23:43 UTC00:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUB
00:11 UTC01:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUB
00:54 UTC02:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUB
01:02 UTC01:45 UTCTornado WarningPUB
01:34 UTC02:19 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningPUB

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, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:58 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.

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), 00:00Z

1.7 hours before the tornado, 222 km from the path. July 14, 2023.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Amarillo Airport, TX at 00:00Z on 2023-07-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2015 joules per kilogram, CIN -115, lifted condensation level 1413 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, Amarillo Airport, TX at 00:00Z on 2023-07-14The 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 -138 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 33 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
2015 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-115 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1073 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1413 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-138 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-93 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-3.8
0-3 km lapse rate
6.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), 12:00Z

10.3 hours after it, 222 km from the path. July 14, 2023.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 2023-07-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 71 joules per kilogram, CIN -310, lifted condensation level 1199 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, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 2023-07-14The 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 49 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 30 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
71 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-310 J/kg
Surface CAPE
733 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1199 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
49 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
373 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Pueblo radar (KPUX), 207 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:44 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
00:47 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Ne PritchettBaca, COCorrects previous tstm wnd dmg report from 2 NE Pritchett. Pole snapped.
00:57 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Nne PritchettBaca, COPower pole blown down. Time estimated by radar.
00:59 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 S PritchettBaca, COBarn roofs torn off, with most damage centered around County Road 13, and AA and Z. Time is estimated.
01:07 UTCTSTM WND DMG8 Se PritchettBaca, COPower pole blown down CR W and 17. Time estimated by radar.
01:16 UTCTORNADO12 Wnw CampoBaca, COBrief touchdown, which lasted 30 seconds.
01:44 UTCTORNADO1 Sw CampoBaca, COBrief touchdown. Lasted 20 seconds.
01:47 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Ne PritchettBaca, COPole snapped.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2023 tornado in ColoradoEvery tornado in Colorado since 1950Warnings in force in Colorado nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of July 13, 2023

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 132:00 PM MDTUnratedLincoln, CO0.025
July 136:04 PM EDTEF0Rutland, VT11.820$50,000
July 136:13 PM CDTEF0Rock, WI0.425
July 137:16 PM MDTEF0Baca, CO0.310

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.