Hail — Arapahoe, Colorado

2012-06-06 · near South Glenn, Arapahoe, Colorado

Wider weather episode

Severe thunderstorms broke late in the evening, striking areas hardest from Denver southward. Locations impacted by the storms included but were not limited to: Aurora, Castle Rock, Centennial, Highlands Ranch, Lone Tree, Parker, Surrey Ridge. The storms produced a barrage of large hail, damaging straight line winds, flash flooding and several short lived tornadoes. The hail ranged in size from 1 to 2 inches in diameter, and caused extensive damage to homes and automobiles. The hail inundated the roadways with several inches of hail in Douglas County. Consequently, snow plows had to be called out to clear the roadways. One tornado that touched down near Grover in Weld County ripped a tree from the ground and tossed it approximately twenty feet.

The combination of torrential hail and heavy rain produced flash flooding in parts of Elbert, Douglas and Arapahoe Counties, as thunderstorms brought up to 3.35 inches of rain to some areas within 90 minutes. In Aurora, Picadilly Road was closed from flooding north of 6th Avenue. A water rescue took place on South Gun Club Road in Arapahoe County, where floodwaters were rushing to depth of 3 feet. Flash flooding forced the closure of several streets and roads from Parker south to The Pinery, where the floodwaters inundated the roadway with up to 2 feet in several locations.

At Centennial Airport in Arapahoe County, a historic B-17 Flying Fortress suffered extensive damage as hailstones as large as ping pong balls hit the aircraft. Although the airframe itself did not require repair, the fabric-covered ailerons and elevators were extensively damaged. The hail came straight down and punched holes in the fabric-covered control surfaces. The plane landed just hours before the storm hit to participate in the weekend tour stop. Lightning struck two homes, one in Lakewood and the other in Parker. Straight line winds downed trees and power lines in Aurora. As a result, scattered electrical outages affect approximately five thousand residents.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (39.5700, -105.0000)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 387760. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.