EF3 Tornado — Yuma, Colorado

2023-08-08 · near Yuma Arpt, Yuma, Colorado

Event narrative

The tornado began in far eastern Washington County near the town of Hyde and moved east-southeast into northwest Yuma County. In Yuma County, the tornado remained southwest of the city of Yuma, where it looped around three times along the path causing damage to irrigation pivots, trees, and numerous power poles. The tornado dissipated during a fourth large loop. There was also significant damage to a residential property, three grain bins, and a machine shed towards the end of the path. Image of the actual tornado path is attached.

Wider weather episode

During the afternoon hours, a strong supercell developed over Logan and Washington Counties. As the storm moved southeast near the community of Hyde, Colorado, it produced a EF-3 tornado that continued into Yuma County. The tornado reached it's peak intensity while just southwest of the city of Yuma with significant damage to a residence and two metal buildings. The supercell continued to move south then southeast across Yuma County to produce a total of seven tornadoes, with one EF-2 tornado moving into far north Kit Carson County. The other tornadoes were ranked EF-U with another north of Abarr ranked an EF-0. The storm also produced thunderstorm wind gusts up to 100 mph with damage to trees and power poles. Large hail was another hazard produced with 1 to 5.25 inch hail reported across Yuma County. The 5.25 inch hailstone fell near Kirk, Colorado, and set a new hail size record for the state of Colorado. After crossing into Kit Carson County the thunderstorm turned east, producing more severe weather in Sherman County Kansas.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.1060, -102.7942)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1136351. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.