Friday, May 6, 2011

Colorado Tornados by Mike Madson - Colorado Weatherman

I found this wonderful information on Mike Madson's Blog.  This is just one post. He has a lot of great information.

The devastating storms in the south have many thinking “how likely is an event like this in Colorado?”. It’s a fair question (especially if you’ve recently moved here).
Here are 10 fast facts.
1)  Tornadoes form from severe thunderstorms (the ones with wind 58 mph or stronger or hail 1″ in diameter or larger), so when severe thunderstorms develop, switch into “alert mode”.
2)  Colorado averages 24 tornadoes per year.
3)  Compared with the rest of the states, Colorado ranks 9th for frequency of tornadoes, 38th for deaths, 31st for injuries and 30 for cost of damages
4)  Alaska gets the fewest tornadoes of any state. The average is 0. (Which doesn’t mean they don’t happen, it means they’re very rare).
5)  County by county in Colorado, Weld county averages the greatest number of tornadoes, followed by Adams, Washington, Kit Carson, Lincoln and El Paso.
6)  Our tornadoes are mostly EF0′s and EF1′s, on the weaker end of the scale. An EF2 or above is a big deal in Colorado. (“EF” stands for the “Enhanced Fujita” scale, a refinement of the good old Fujita scale you’re heard about before.
7)  Tornadoes can occur anywhere; over the mountains, on the plains, they can cross rivers (it’s vampires that can’t…or so I’m told <G>).
8)  The most likely time of the day for tornadoes is 3-9 pm…but they’ve occurred at all hours of the day and night. (Here’s a GREAT link for more credible tornado facts: http://www.nssl.noaa.gov/edu/safety/tornadoguide.html
9)  All tornadoes don’t move from southwest to northeast, but lots of them do.
10)  May and June are prime tornado months for Colorado

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