97
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
19
Direct injuries
$9.7M
Property damage
Tornado in El Paso County, Colorado: 97 recorded events between 1951 and 2023. The strongest on record measured F3. That places the county #58 nationally and #10 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Tornado in El Paso County, Colorado: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for tornado in El Paso County is the 1990s, when 36 of the county's 97 recorded events were logged. Comparing decades is useful for spotting active periods, but the earliest years are thin because systematic reporting for this hazard began later.
Within the El Paso County archive, tornado makes up 3.6% of all recorded severe weather across 10 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #58 for this hazard and #10 within Colorado, putting it in the 98.1 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
Jun is the peak month for tornado in El Paso County with 44 recorded events, while Jan is the quietest. Seasonality here is a property of the archive as much as the climate: reports cluster where population and spotter networks are densest.
Tornado tracks
Paths crossing this county
| Date | Scale | Path length | Max width | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979-06-24 | EF3 | 4.3 mi | 50 yd | Touched down here |
| 1977-06-13 | EF3 | 4.9 mi | 100 yd | Touched down here |
| 2012-06-07 | EF2 | 7.5 mi | 880 yd | Crossed in |
| 2001-05-28 | EF2 | 0.5 mi | 200 yd | Touched down here |
| 2001-05-28 | EF2 | 0.3 mi | 30 yd | Touched down here |
| 1990-06-06 | EF2 | 2.0 mi | 100 yd | Touched down here |
| 1977-04-11 | EF2 | 1.0 mi | 100 yd | Touched down here |
| 1977-06-13 | EF2 | 1.0 mi | 50 yd | Touched down here |
| 1977-06-13 | EF2 | 1.0 mi | 50 yd | Touched down here |
| 2015-06-04 | EF1 | 2.0 mi | 400 yd | Crossed in |
Significant events
Deadliest on record
| Date | Location | Scale | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 29, 2001 | ELLICOTT | F2 | 0 | 5 | $100K |
| May 29, 2001 | ELLICOTT | F2 | 0 | 4 | $8.0M |
| May 29, 2001 | ELLICOTT | F1 | 0 | 4 | $20K |
| Jun 7, 1990 | F2 | 0 | 2 | $250K | |
| Jun 13, 1977 | F2 | 0 | 2 | $250K | |
| Jun 24, 1979 | F3 | 0 | 1 | $250K | |
| Jun 15, 1965 | F1 | 0 | 1 | $25K |
Most recent
Latest recorded events
| Date | Location | Magnitude | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 5, 2023 | BLACK FOREST | EFU | $0 |
| Jun 23, 2023 | PEYTON | EF0 | $0 |
| May 26, 2023 | YODER | EFU | $0 |
| Aug 8, 2019 | FALCON | EFU | $0 |
| Mar 29, 2019 | FALCON | EF0 | $0 |
| Sep 9, 2017 | FALCON | EF0 | $0 |
| Jun 5, 2015 | RAMAH | EF0 | $2K |
| Jun 4, 2015 | RAMAH | EF0 | $0 |
| Jun 4, 2015 | RAMAH | EF1 | $2K |
| May 9, 2015 | TRUCKTON | EF0 | $0 |
Other hazards here
More from El Paso County
- Hail 1,911
- Heavy Rain 250
- Flash Flood 182
- Thunderstorm Wind 168
- Lightning 51
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
A tornado, moved just northeast of Meadowlake Airport to the northeast of Falcon, Colorado or 10 miles northeast of Colorado Springs. It damaged four houses and two horse barns. Some horses received minor injuries. An airplane, in a combination house-hangar, was damaged.
A slow moving supercell thunderstorm stayed over the Ellicott area of eastern El Paso county for over an hour on Memorial Day evening. For over an hour, heavy rain and large hail pelted the area. Then another thunderstorm cell merged with the supercell, causing a brief time of extreme winds and three small tornadoes. A large mesocyclone developed, and the extreme winds rotated around its northeastern quarter. All of the debris from the damaged structures was moved to the west-northwest or west. Straight-line and twisting microburst winds, in some areas causing F2 damage, damaged or destroyed nearly 100 mobile homes, many occupied. Embedded within these winds, three tornadoes occurred. One, rated F2, struck the junior-senior high school building, totally destroying nearly one half of the structure. That tornado lifted briefly and set down again about 3/4 of a mile northwest of the school building and destroyed several mobile homes. Another tornado, rated F1, occurred about one mile west of the school building, flipping a mobile home.
A tornado moved south-southwest into El Paso County from Elbert County. A house was damaged. Four nearby barns, one a dog kennel, were destroyed. Two dogs perished. Another ranch to the south was damaged from the tornado winds and flying debris.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many tornado events are on record in El Paso County, Colorado?
97 tornado events are recorded in El Paso County between 1951 and 2023, causing 0 direct deaths.
What is the strongest tornado recorded in El Paso County?
The strongest tornado on record in El Paso County measured F3.
Where does the tornado data for El Paso County come from?
All events come from the NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database, the federal public-domain archive of severe weather reports. Dates are UTC, damage is as reported and not inflation-adjusted, and the most recent entries may still be revised.
Cite this page
“Tornado in El Paso County, Colorado.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/colorado/el-paso-county/tornado/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.