Colorado Springs CO. tornadoes? (Denver, Woodland Park: tornado, to live, store)

[hotlife]

ok so I'm moving to Colorado Springs from Knoxville TN and being terrified of big storms and tornadoes, I am wondering if Colorado Springs gets tornadoes and if they do how bad are they.

[vfrpilot]

Tornados are very rare in this area. There was one last year east of COS in Falcon. It was huge news. I remember an eyewitness estimating the tornado as 4 or 5. It didn't even make the Fujita scale. More like a dust devil. A few years ago there was a tiny one north of us. I posted a picture of it on here somewhere. Lasted only a minute and disappeared. I think the mountains have a way of protecting us from the ingredients needed to produce those huge tornados you see in the plains.
I worry more about hail than any other natural disaster. It can destroy your roof and really mess up your car. No real danger to personal health though.

[Timmyy]

Near the foothills you occasionally see a funnel cloud. The seem to only touch down more towards the plains.

[allup]

Been here 20 years, Never heard of one in the Springs. All are north west of Denver.

[Count David]

However, when watching the news in Colorado Springs during the summer, you'll see a lot of tornado coverage on the news/weather reports, covering all of the T-storms/tornadoes/etc that occur on the eastern plains.

[jazzlover]

Tornadoes are rare in Colorado Springs, however, do not think it is some storm-free utopia in the summer. Colorado Springs is one of the most thunderstorm-prone locales in the United States during the summer months, averaging 50+ thunderstorms from May-September. Some of those storms do indeed go severe, the most common feature being large hail. Colorado Springs sits in "Hail Alley"--a strip running north from the Springs all the way to southeast Wyoming--where the largest number of hailstorms occur annually in the US. Hail golfball size or bigger does occur with some regularity. Colorado Springs is very lightning-prone, as well, with lightning injuries and deaths there (along with much of Colorado) having one of the highest rates in the nation. Colorado Springs' lightning reputation extends way back--enough so that Nikola Tesla, the famous scientist who developed much of modern electrical theory, lived there for a time in order to conduct lightning experiments.

If you love thunderstorms, as I do, the Springs is an interesting place to be; if you hate them, look for somewhere else to live.

[Ponypenny]

You're coming from Tennessee and you are worried about big storms and tornadoes in Colorado Springs?

[ryanek9freak]

My stepmother told me a tornado hit Manitou about 40 years and and did some significant damage, but I'm not sure how to verify it. That's gotta be super rare though. The Springs gets some bad ass t-storms, but i"ve never seen anything coming close to a tornado.

Update: Ok, it was 30 years ago.
http://www.historycolorado.org/oahp/...rvives-tornado

ANd this is from the Colorado Springs city government website:
http://www.springsgov.com/Page.aspx?NavID=1193

[cravinbob]

Yes there are tornadoes in Colorado Springs. There are funnel clouds also, which are called tornadoes when they touch the earth.
In 1979 I believe I had lived here a year and 3 tornadoes touched down on the city's westside at about 21st and highway 24. One traveled east on Colorado Ave and all three did their share of damage. A liquor store called the Bottle Stop had its west side wall sucked out about 6 inches. The wall was made of cinder blocks. I have a few photos of damage in my photo box. It was a very thick sky just prior and the thunder clouds had a greenish hue. Then the rain then hail started and quickly became a down pour. The tornadoes appeared in trio for about 5 minutes travelling northeast then began going back up into the sky. The rain and hail stopped as the storm just like that moved on. The sky was as blue as could be and then trash started falling from the sky: fiberglass. roof shingles, small limbs and leaves and numerous other junk.
I have seen fierce storms here and also funnel clouds but not so much in the last decade. The city is not in the mountains but just east in what is called high desert plains. It can get cold and snow can drift on roads stranding the unprepared after a sunny morning. Winters usually were cold days followed by warm days but that pattern has changed to cold days only in winter. We are on the western edge of tornado alley, make no mistake, the weather can get violent. Residents must always bring clothing on outings for any type weather no matter the season. One year the Pikes Peak Hill Climb was delayed on July 4th because of snow!

[Miss Hepburn]

Yup, '79 ---that's where all the trees went in Manitou's Memorial Park.
Came down from Woodland Park area
down the pass as I was told by a friend trying to get in front of it. What a story he tells!
But, no, they are not common.