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EF3 tornado in Yuma County, Colorado

Tornado August 8, 2023 · Yuma County, Colorado

EF3
Rating
15.6 mi
Whole path
212 yd
Path width
$1.0M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Washington County → Yuma County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 212 yards (0.12 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

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.

The wider storm

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.

Began near Yuma Arpt (40.1060, -102.7942).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

5 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1136351. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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