Tornadoes · United States · Colorado · 2025
Unrated tornado, Wray Bowman Arpt to Arapahoe, Colorado, August 9, 2025
From Wray Bowman Arpt to Arapahoe, this Unrated tornado ran 4.6 miles across Yuma County on August 9, 2025, touching down at 5:52 PM MDT and reaching 75 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
- August 9, 2025
- Touchdown
- 5:52 PM MDT (23:52 UTC)
- Lifted
- 6:07 PM MDT (00:07 UTC)
- On the ground
- 15 minutes
- Path length
- 4.6 miles (7.4 km)
- Path width
- 75 yards (69 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Yuma County
- Touchdown point
- 39.933, -102.250
- Lift-off point
- 39.892, -102.181
- Record number
- 2508091752-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Numerous thunderstorms developed across eastern Colorado during the afternoon hours of the 9th, leading to hail up to 2.25 inches and a tornado all in Yuma county.
Trained spotter reports brief touch down near county roads AA and 27. No damage observed.
Chaser relayed pictures of a tornado. The tornado was located west of Highway 385 near CR 24. Radar then suggests that the tornado continued across Highway 385 before ending near CR KK and CR 22.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
26 minutes of warning. NWS GLD issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:26 UTC, 26 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:15 UTC.
The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 19:52 UTC and running to 04:46 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19:52 UTC | 04:46 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | GLD |
| 22:08 UTC | 23:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD |
| 23:10 UTC | 00:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD |
| 23:26 UTC | 00:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | GLD |
| 23:36 UTC | 04:00 UTC | Flood Advisory | GLD |
| 23:42 UTC | 23:54 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD |
| 00:02 UTC | 01:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD |
| 00:54 UTC | 01:07 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | GLD |
| 01:09 UTC | 01:28 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm 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, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:57 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 surface observations
Wray (RYA), 21 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21:55 UTC | 87.8 | 62.6 | 80° 11 kt | 14 | 1014.6 | |
| 22:15 UTC | 84.2 | 62.6 | 70° 11 kt | 17 | 1014.6 | |
| 22:35 UTC | 82.4 | 62.6 | 70° 10 kt | 1014.2 | ||
| 22:55 UTC | 80.6 | 62.6 | 70° 10 kt | 16 | 1014.2 | |
| 23:15 UTC | 80.6 | 62.6 | 70° 12 kt | 1014.6 | TS | |
| 23:35 UTC | 77 | 64.4 | 60° 14 kt | 19 | 1014.9 | -TSRA |
| 23:55 UTC | 68 | 64.4 | 280° 25 kt | 40 | 1018.6 | +TSRA |
| 00:15 UTC | 64.4 | 60.8 | 40° 21 kt | 34 | 1017.3 | -TSRA |
| 00:35 UTC | 66.2 | 62.6 | 70° 8 kt | 1016.3 | -TSRA | |
| 00:55 UTC | 66.2 | 62.6 | 60° 8 kt | 1016.9 | -VCTSRA | |
| 01:15 UTC | 68 | 64.4 | 120° 12 kt | 17 | 1016.3 | VCTS |
| 01:35 UTC | 66.2 | 62.6 | 170° 8 kt | 1017.3 | TS |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Goodland radar (KGLD), 75 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:52 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:44 UTC | HAIL 2 | 9 Ssw Clarkville | Yuma, CO | 2 inch hail reported via Spotter Network. |
| 23:20 UTC | HAIL 2 | 10 N Eckley | Yuma, CO | Delayed report via social media. Measured 2.25 inch hail fell at the approximate report time. Time estimated via radar. |
| 23:33 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | 4 S Heartstrong | Yuma, CO | |
| 23:40 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 8 Sse Eckley | Yuma, CO | |
| 23:50 UTC | TORNADO | 4 Nw Vernon | Yuma, CO | Trained spotter reports brief touch down near county roads AA and 27. No damage observed. |
| 00:00 UTC | TSTM WND GST 55 | 3 Nne Vernon | Yuma, CO | Trained spotter estimating 50-55 MPH winds. |
| 00:00 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 3 Nne Vernon | Yuma, CO | Trained spotter actively getting golf ball sized hail. |
| 00:01 UTC | TSTM WND GST 55 | 3 Nnw Vernon | Yuma, CO | PWS-PCOWRAY7 reported 55 MPH gust. |
| 01:07 UTC | HAIL 1 | 1 Ese Abarr | Yuma, CO | Trained spotter reported pea to 1 inch hail and hail is starting to accumulate. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2025 tornado in ColoradoEvery tornado in Colorado since 1950Warnings in force in Colorado nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of August 9, 2025
4 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.