Tornadoes in Ft. Collins or Windsor (Fort Collins: house, live, county)

[GARDENGAL60]

Did Fort Collins receive any damage? I thought that being near the mountains that tornados did not have a chance to build up.

[HockeyFan]

These storms came on the front end of a low pressure system, combined with a dry line. They were moving largely south to north, which is a big reason they were able to spawn larger than normal tornadoes. Most tornadoes on the front range come from the west, and it is true they are not as large -- typically F0 or F1.

In my experience of tornadoes throughout the Midwest, the worst storms seem to be the south to north moving storms -- often they are at the front end of a strong low pressure system such as this one.

In California, we are on the back end of the same system, and it is unusually windy (not related to tornadoes, obviously)... I made the comment last night that it reminded me of being in Colorado right before a storm blows in. Somewhat ominous thought today....

[CSchuman]

Don't feel worried about tornadoes. We had one in Southern California yesterday! It can happen almost anywhere.


YouTube - Riverside Moreno Valley Tornado view from Mead Valley

[RangerDuke08]

The tornado hit pretty close in Windsor and Greeley, however you need to understand that tornados are caused by unstable atmospheric pressure generally in between the Rockies and Appalachians cold air coming down and then the hot air from the gulf stream moving up mixing with it, although we are too close to the mountains and a bit too north of the gulf to get hit but it does happen once in a while, usually E. of the I-25 you get to the plains, which looks much like Kansas geographically such as Limon would fall in "tornado alley".

[tfox]

This was an unusual storm due to its northwesterly direction. It started in Gilchrist, well east of the mountains into a typical tornado zone. However, we would ordinarily expect a northeasterly or eastward movement, instead it moved northwest, pounding Windsor and eventually crossed I-25 near Wellington and eventually hit Laramie, WY (albeit much weakened by that time). That is an unusual movement. It does show that nowhere on the front range is truly immune to tornadoes.

However, it is still true that tornadoes west of I-25 occur with much less frequency as well as much less severity than those storms east of I-25.

[RangerDuke08]

That's true you need to take into account that there is possible climate change where longer winters will eventually account for later snow melting, I believe the number of spring tornadoes was a record this year. Here is a good map to go by as to where tornado alley falls in.

Image:Tornado Alley.gif - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Katarina Witt]

There are more and fewer tornado warnings depending on the year. This is nothing like Champaign, IL which gets tornado warnings daily sometimes in the early spring (though one had never touched down there before I left in 1980). And they can happen almost everywhere, including outside of "Tornado Alley". There was one in my home county, Beaver County, PA on this date in 1985.

[RangerDuke08]

Part of the characteristics of tornados is that it is unpredictable. This year saw 153% above average nationwide.

2008 Tornadoes - 153 Percent More Tornadoes To Date than Average - thedailygreen.com

Although there is a general conception where most tornados tend to land refers to "tornado alley", this region is not a concrete region but can be referred to:

Image:Tornado Alley.gif - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And certainly there are regions where tornados don't hit, once you get into the Rocky mountains, it is impossible for a tornado to hit in Breckenridge for example as the downward flow of cooler air is part of the cause of tornados.

[sidburn]

From TV footage I saw, it looked like the Windsor tornado could have easily been one of, if not THE biggest tornado in recent U.S. history (and it wasn't even an F5!) I assume the unusual amount of media coverage it got was due to the fact that large, powerful tornadoes are rare in Colorado. Was it really one of the widest/largest tornadoes in U.S. history, or are there plenty more on record that surpassed it?

[isellnoco]

I think we had a lot of TV coverage because it was unusual that a tornado hit Windsor, Colorado. It struck mostly the Eastern part of Windsor but was fairly isolated to the path of the tornado. There have been plenty of larger tornados on the Eastern plains. So, I wouldn't say it was the biggest. I would look at the F5 tornados regarding the most destructive. Just a thought...from western Windsor and unaffected by the tornado.