How strong was that tornado? How the EF scale works
DENVER (KDVR) — People often think of mountains when they think of Colorado, but the Centennial State isn't all ski slopes — much of the state looks more like Kansas, and the severe weather reflects that.
The severe weather season is beginning. In the summer, warmer temperatures allow for stronger storms to develop, often in the afternoons, earning Colorado a spot in hail alley.
Photos: Tornado damage in Adams, Arapahoe counties seen from the sky
Colorado is not quite in tornado alley, but the state does get a good number of tornadoes each year. Nearly 40% of the state is made up of high plains, which are part of the Great Plains, according to Colorado State University.
Colorado's severe weather was displayed on Sunday when storms produced hail the size of eggs, and multiple tornadoes swept through the state, damaging more than 30 structures.
The National Weather Service said Tuesday that the tornadoes were significant with 'considerable' damage, with an Enhanced Fujita scale ranking of an EF-2.
The Fujita Scale was improved by nationally renowned meteorologists and engineers to create the EF scale, which has been used to rate tornadoes since 2007, according to the NWS.
EF-scale
Class
Wind (mph)
Wind (km/h)
Description
EF-0
Weak
65-85
105-137
Gale
EF-1
Weak
86-110
138-177
Moderate
EF-2
Strong
111-135
178-217
Significant
EF-3
Strong
136-165
217-266
Severe
EF-4
Violent
166-200
267-322
Devastating
EF-5
Violent
>200
>322
Incredible
How to receive emergency alerts during Colorado's tornado season
The ratings help meteorologists categorize weather events, and are a way for people to know how strong and damaging a tornado was.
Depending on the strength, tornadoes can cause damage ranging from broken tree branches and gutters, to roofs being blown off, vehicles being blown around and houses even swept away.
The chart below shows the expected damage for each of the ratings, according to the NWS:
The most destructive tornadoes in Colorado have ranged from EF-0 to EF-3 over the last decade.
Tornadoes are rare in Denver, but they are not an unusual occurrence in the plains. According to the NWS, Colorado gets an average of 53 tornadoes each year, and 95% of those occur east of Interstate 25.
Tornadoes hit Colorado, and this likely won't be the last
Tornadoes are most common from May through August, and the Pinpoint Weather team expects more throughout the season.
Coloradans can prepare by making sure they are signed up to receive emergency alerts, knowing where the nearest tornado shelter is and staying up to date on the forecast.
Stay prepared for storms and forecast changes, a Pinpoint Weather Alert Day and other important weather information:
Interactive Denver weather radar
Colorado weather alerts
Business, church and school closings
Weather newsletters
FOX31 News app
The Pinpoint Weather team will continue to update the forecast multiple times each day.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
2 hours ago
- Forbes
20 Years After Katrina - Reflection And Preparation In Mississippi
The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season is here, and most experts are expecting another active season. The 2024 season spawned Helene and Milton. Two storms that took their place in infamy given the significant loss of life and damage caused as they ravaged the southeastern United States. August will mark the 20th anniversary of another infamous storm that changed the Gulf Coast region forever - Hurricane Katrina. On the eve of his annual Hurricane House preparedness event, "new-ish: Mississippi resident and noted storm chaser Josh Morgerman reflects on the overlooked stories in the state. Hurricane Katrina made an initial landfall on August 25th, 2005 as a Category 1 hurricane. After moving across southern Florida, it became a dangerous Category 5 storm feeding off of extremely warm waters in the Gulf. According to the NWS Mobile website, 'Katrina weakened to a Category 3 before making landfall (on August 29th) along the northern Gulf Coast, first in southeast Louisiana (sustained winds: 125mph) and then made landfall once more along the Mississippi Gulf Coast (sustained winds: 120mph).' A 2023 NOAA report indicated, 'Katrina was responsible for a total of nearly 1400 combined direct and indirect fatalities. This includes 520 direct deaths — 341 in Louisiana, 172 in Mississippi, 6 in Florida, and 1 in Georgia.' Over 500 indirect deaths, mostly cardiovascular causes, were ultimately reported as well. Katrina still ranks as the third deadliest hurricane in U.S. history behind the Galveston hurricane of 1900 (8000+ deaths) and the 1928 Lake Okeechobee, Florida hurricane (2500+ deaths). For Mississippi, there was a bit of a double-whammy. As the storm made landfall in Louisiana, coastal Mississippi was located on the 'dirty' side of the eye. The motion of the storm combined with counterclockwise wind flow produces the strongest winds and highest surge in that region. Additionally, Katrina made another landfall near Hancock County, Mississippi as a Category hurricane. The track of Hurricane Katrina (2005). NOAA The NWS Mobile Office website has an excellent summary of the storm. It stated, 'Known for its storm surge, Katrina's highest surge was found in a zone from just east of the eye near Bay St. Louis, MS east to the northern reaches of Mobile Bay.' Morgerman, who goes by iCyclone in the chaser world, has settled in the Bay St. Louis area and has even built a hurricane-fortified home called 'Hurricane House.' He told me, "New Orleans of course dominated the headlines. But what happened in Mississippi was also cataclysmic. It's hard to put it into words. Whole neighborhoods were swept away—left unrecognizable.' Morgerman, who has penetrated the cores of 80 hurricanes and typhoons around the globe (a world record), went on to say, 'I feel like every longtime Coastal Mississippian divides their life into two eras: Before Katrina and After Katrina." However, the Mississippi resident has a better understanding of his part of the U.S. Gulf Coast is prone to really big storm surges. He said, "I didn't understand why until I started living here. You go the beach and you want to take a swim, and it's like you have to walk a mile out just to get in up to your waist. The water is crazy shallow—it's nuts. And shallow water offshore means big surges.' To date, the two biggest storm surges in U.S. history happened in Mississippi - Katrina (2005) and Camille (1969). Downtown Bay Saint Louis has very little elevation, so many buildings were destroyed in Katrina though a small bluff protected some of the buildings located in the downtown area. According to Morgerman, 'Residential areas within a couple of blocks of the water were just obliterated.' Morgerman took a different approach with his home. His 'Hurricane House' uses things like Jamies Hardie fiber cement siding that repels water and is impact-resistant. He also incorporated premium construction materials likeresistant to Premium construction material like 2 x 6 studs on the perimeter of the house; Solid, raised chain wall foundations; continuous load path construction to reinforce connection points; and a system of cables in the walls to resist uplift from the wind. So why did Morgerman choose to build his Gold Fortified home there. "Except for that one cinderblock house next door, every house you can see was built after Katrina. This whole neighborhood was swept away in the storm.' According to the storm chaser, Hurricane House was actually built on the grave of another house. For the past couple of years, Morgerman has hosted an event at Hurricane House. The event attracts some of the nation's top meteorologists, emergency management officials, media and decision-makers. He reflected, "'Now, I want to be really clear: This event is not a celebration of hurricanes! I don't want the neighbors to run me out of town with torches and pitchforks.' Josh leverages his visibility and platform for a different reason. He told me, 'It's to celebrate awareness and preparedness. And twenty years after Katrina, that hits home for folks here.' In 2024, I documented the story of Hurricane House. The website wrote, 'The fortified construction method is a voluntary construction standard backed by decades of research, that your roofing contractor or builder can use to help protect your home against severe weather.' It is a program established by Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety and is comprised of three levels of certification: Bronze, Silver, or Gold. Morgerman added, 'Folks don't realize this, but we can build for hurricanes. We're not completely at their mercy.' Like anyone with common sense living in the Gulf region, Morgerman knows that it is not a matter of 'if' but 'when' the next strong hurricane hits the region. He remarked, "'I built my home with specific sponsors and engineering under the assumption that it's gonna get whacked a few times. My philosophy is: Don't build in fear of hurricanes—build with the *expectation* of hurricanes. Calm down, accept the inevitable, and just build accordingly.' The Gulf Coast region has a disproportionate number of socio-economically vulnerable communities. Many households may not be able to afford a hurricane-fortified house, but preparation still matters to them too. According to the Mississippi Center for Justice website, 'When Hurricane Katrina devastated the southern half of Mississippi in 2005, more than 60 percent of single-family dwellings were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable.' Those numbers were even higher for rental properties. Such events, according to MCJ, 'Created even more displaced residents in a state where safe and affordable housing was already out of reach for so many low-income and minority residents.' Everyone, irrespective of race, income, or status was impacted by Hurricane Katrina, which makes Morgerman's message about preparedness even more important. Hurricanes are already bad enough and in recent years, many storms approaching the Gulf Coast have rapidly intensified, which means even less time to prepare. As the 2025 season ramps up, it is critical that individuals, government agencies, businesses and stakeholders have proactive plans. A 2024 National Academies report on compound disasters in the Gulf region cautioned about risk, resiliency, and response in the region. Key messages centered around:
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Yahoo
Over 800 flights delayed amid storms on Friday, 24 canceled
DENVER (KDVR) — A Pinpoint Weather Alert Day is issued for Friday as thunderstorms and hail make their way to the Denver metro area and are expected to affect travelers. As of 5:25 p.m. on Friday, over 800 flights at the Denver International Airport have been delayed. Pothole that formed in under 30 minutes causes backups on I-70: CDOT The online flight tracker FlightAware reported that 839 flights in and out of DIA were delayed, and a total of 24 were canceled. The airlines that had the most delayed flights included: Southwest: 304 Skywest: 206 United: 204 Frontier: 40 Delta: 22 American: 20 The following airlines had cancellations on Friday: Southwest: 16 Frontier: 5 Delta: 2 United: 1 Stay prepared for storms and forecast changes, a Pinpoint Weather Alert Day and other important weather information: Interactive Denver weather radar Colorado weather alerts Business, church and school closings Weather newsletters FOX31 News app The Pinpoint Weather team will continue to update the forecast multiple times each day. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
Key US weather monitoring offices understaffed as hurricane season starts
More than a dozen National Weather Service (NWS) forecast offices along the hurricane-prone Gulf of Mexico coast are understaffed as the US plunges into an expected active season for ruinous storms, data seen by the Guardian shows. There is a lack of meteorologists in 15 of the regional weather service offices along the coastline from Texas to Florida, as well as in Puerto Rico – an area that takes the brunt of almost all hurricanes that hit the US. Several offices, including in Miami, Jacksonville, Puerto Rico and Houston, lack at least a third of all the meteorologists required to be fully staffed. Meanwhile, the National Hurricane Center (NHC), the Miami-based nerve center for tracking hurricanes, is short five specialists, the Guardian has learned, despite assurances from the Trump administration that it is fully staffed ahead of what's anticipated to be a busy hurricane season that officially started on Sunday. Related: 'Chaos': Trump cuts to Noaa disrupt staffing and weather forecasts The center and local field offices work together to alert and prepare communities for incoming hurricanes, but they have been hit by job cuts and a hiring freeze imposed by the president, with more than 600 staff departing the NWS since Trump took power. 'The system is already overstretched and at some point it will snap,' said Tom Fahy, legislative director of the National Weather Service Employees Organization, an independent labor union and provider of the office staffing data. 'We are at the snapping point now.' An NHC spokesperson said the agency still has enough people to function properly. 'NHC has a sufficient number of forecasters to fill mission-critical operational shifts during the 2025 hurricane season,' she said. 'NHC remains dedicated to its mission, providing timely tropical weather forecasts and warnings pursuant to our public safety mission.' But experts warned the turmoil unleashed by Trump upon the NWS and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), the national disaster agency that has had multiple leadership changes and still does not have a completed plan for this year's hurricane season, will dangerously hamper the response to a summer that will likely bring storms, floods and wildfires across the US. 'Staff will put in an heroic effort but there is high probability of significant consequences because of the cuts,' said Rick Spinrad, who was administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) until January. 'If I were a citizen of Texas, Florida or Georgia, I wouldn't be sure how well warned I would be of a hurricane. And if a hurricane was heading for a major city, I'm not confident Fema would be able to respond to the forecasted warnings.' The NWS, which is part of Noaa, has been upended like other agencies by the efforts of Trump and the so-called 'department of government efficiency' (Doge) to slash the government workforce. The weather service has scrambled to fill gaps with temporary secondments from other offices, but many roles remain unfilled in outposts that usually have about 25 employees each. The agency is now asking for relocations to fill empty meteorologist-in-charge positions, the most senior role at a field office, in Houston, Texas, and Lake Charles, Louisiana – both places that have experienced devastating hurricanes in recent years. Cover for dozens of other meteorologist roles across the US is also being sought, including in the hurricane-prone areas of Miami and Key West, both in Florida, and Mobile, Alabama, according to an internal NWS document. In some cases, the loss of weather service personnel – from the firing of probationary workers and early retirements offered to veteran staff – has forced offices to shut down overnight rather than operate 24 hours a day as normal. In seven of the 122 NWS stations across the US, including in Jackson, Kentucky, where a tornado killed 19 people this month, there will be no round-the-clock operation from 1 June. Of the 122 offices, 30 lack a meteorologist-in-charge. While the weather service, which has existed in some form since 1870, has always had to shift around resources to deal with extreme events, former staff said the scale of the cuts place an unprecedented strain upon its ability to provide detailed, localized forecasts. The release of weather balloons has been scaled back, technicians who maintain radar equipment have been fired and there are concerns that 'hurricane hunter' flights into storms will not be fully operational. Related: 'Flooding could end southern Appalachia': the scientists on an urgent mission to save lives 'I slept on the floor of the office during the hurricanes last year, but you can't do that every day because it leads to burnout. What the National Weather Service is doing now is a short-term fix of musical chairs, it's not sustainable,' said Brian LaMarre, a 30-year weather service veteran who took early retirement in April from his role as meteorologist-in-charge of the office in Tampa, Florida. 'What's needed is for the National Weather Service and Noaa to be funded properly.' While the tracking of hurricanes, which has improved markedly in recent years as technology and forecast models have advanced, will still be handled by the NHC, there are concerns that understaffed local offices won't be able to properly apply this information to affected areas. 'They can move the deckchairs on the Titanic but they just don't have enough bodies to do the job they are supposed to do,' said James Franklin, a retired NWS meteorologist who is a hurricane specialist. 'I'm worried the local offices won't be able to communicate with local emergency services and local officials about threats because they won't have the bodies to do it. The uncertainty level of the forecast will go up, too.' Franklin said the cuts to jobs and to longer-term Noaa research aimed at improving forecasts will have a lasting impact. 'It's not even shortsighted, it's no-sighted,' he said. 'Even if you don't see an impact this year, in five or 10 years you certainly will. They aren't even going to save any money doing this; it seems ideologically driven to me.' The tumult within the US's premier weather agency comes as its leadership acknowledges that warm temperatures in the Gulf, a symptom of the climate crisis, will probably spur an above-normal number of hurricanes this year. Six to 10 storms are expected to become hurricanes with winds of 74mph (119km/h) or higher, with as many as five reaching at least 111mph (179km/h). 'Everything is in place for an above-average season,' Ken Graham, director of the NWS, said last week. 'We've got to be prepared, right now. We've got to be ready.' Yet uncertainty is now commonplace throughout the US government's apparatus to predict and respond to disasters. The situation at a depleted Fema is particularly parlous, with the agency reducing training for state and local emergency managers and lagging months behind schedule in preparing for hurricane season. Trump and Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, have both openly mulled dismantling Fema and its new acting administrator has struck a belligerent tone. 'I, and I alone in Fema, speak for Fema. I'm here to carry out the president's intent for Fema,' David Richardson, a former marine with no emergency management experience, told staff in May. 'I will run right over you,' he warned staff. 'Don't get in my way … I know all the tricks.' 'It's a chaotic time at Fema, the constant departure of employees and the lack of leadership has distracted the agency from its mission,' said Michael Coen, who was chief of staff to the Fema administrator during the Biden administration. 'There's a lot of confusion among states over what level of support they will get from the federal government. My concern is that if Fema has to respond to concurrent events, two hurricanes or a flood and a storm, it won't have the capacity to provide the proper level of support.' Such warnings have rattled some lawmakers amid a federal budget negotiation process that will probably conclude at some point during hurricane season, which stretches until November. Under a budget proposal outlined by Trump's White House, Noaa's $6bn budget would be shrunk by around a quarter, effectively eliminating its climate and weather research. 'Republicans and Democrats are concerned about this because they know a tornado doesn't care if you live in a red state or a blue state,' said Fahy. 'Members of Congress are concerned, I've had several phone calls asking if we have enough people. The National Weather Service's budget is the cost of a cup of coffee for every person across the United States. I think people would say that's pretty good value.' A Fema spokesperson said that the Trump administration is 'committed to ensuring Americans affected by emergencies will get the help they need in a quick and efficient manner'. 'All operational and readiness requirements will continue to be managed without interruption in close coordination with local and state officials ahead of the 2025 hurricane season,' the spokesperson added.
