EF1 tornado, Campo to Stonington, Colorado, June 23, 2023

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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF1

Date

June 23, 2023

Touchdown

6:33 PM MDT (00:33 UTC)

Lifted

6:56 PM MDT (00:56 UTC)

On the ground

23 minutes

Path length

8.4 miles (13.6 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Baca County

Touchdown point

37.030, -102.330

Lift-off point

37.021, -102.177

Record number

2306231833-01

Exceptionally severe weather continues over southern Colorado with the continued deluge of moist air coming from the Pacific and remnant moisture from previous moisture from widespread heavy rainfall. The most notable weather feature was an EF3 tornado that hit a farm located in Prowers County. This was only the 3rd EF3 tornado recorded since NWS modernization in 1995.

There was also a second damaging tornado, rated EF-1, that occurred this day on June 23, 2023. This tornado drifted across mostly open rural land across far southern Baca County east of Campo, Colorado for most of its lifespan. At a point during the middle of the tornadoes life, it impacted an abandoned farm stead, damaging two structures on the property. After hitting this property, it continued to track eastward across County Road 43, where it knocked down wooden power poles. Also at this time, the tornado passed a couple hundred yards to the north of an occupied family farm, but no damage was reported at this location. After crossing County Road 43, the tornado drifted back into open countryside and began deviating to the NNE, where it eventually dissipated near County Road 45.

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

20 minutes of warning. NWS PUB issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:13 UTC, 20 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:45 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:55 UTC and running to 01:44 UTC.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:58 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 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.

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 205 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:34 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.

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

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

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

23 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.