Rare Tornado Tears Through Colorado City Near Pikes Peak

A rare tornado brought winds up to 100 miles per hour to Cripple Creek in Teller County, Colorado, on Friday afternoon, near Colorado’s popular Pikes Peak mountain.

AccuWeather shared video footage of damage from the storm several days after the tornado struck, noting how rare it is for a tornado to form in high-elevation areas. The location where the tornado struck on Friday is at 10,050 feet in elevation. The video showed felled trees.

“It was the second EF1 tornado in just over a year at high elevation. One also hit near Pikes Peak on July 20, 2023,” the video said. “Tornadoes are less common in high mountains because mountains often disrupt the circulation of severe thunderstorms. The highest-elevation tornado ever documented was a photo of a tornado at 12,156 ft in 2004 in California.”

The National Weather Service (NWS) office in Pueblo, Colorado, confirmed the tornado on Saturday.

“A damage survey team from our office confirmed an EF-1 tornado with winds up to 100 mph occurred on the afternoon of August 9th,” NWS Pueblo posted on X, formerly Twitter. “The tornado was located 4 miles north-northeast of Cripple Creek in Teller County, CO.”

NWS meteorologist Charlie Woodrum told Newsweek that the damage survey team identified around 300 trees that had been snapped, twisted or uprooted in the area. He said there was some minor structural damage to one home.

The tornado’s path was nearly 1 mile long, and the storm was 400 yards wide. No injuries or deaths were reported.

Tornados are rated according to the Enhanced Fujita Scale, or EF Scale, the NWS said on its website. The EF Scale assesses a tornado based on the storm’s estimated wind speeds and related damage. The EF Scale ranges from 0 to 5, with wind speeds ranging from 3-second gusts of 65 to 85 miles per hour for an EF-0 to over 200 miles per hour for an EF-5. For an EF-1, wind speeds range from 86 to 110 miles per hour.

According to a report from the Weather Channel, an EF-1 tornado can cause “moderate damage” such as severely stripped roofs, overturned mobile homes, or shattered windows.

Much of Colorado also was battling severe weather on Monday afternoon, with a severe thunderstorm battering the state with 60 miles per hour wind gusts and hail up to a half-dollar size.

“Hail damage to vehicles is expected. Expect wind damage to roofs, siding, and trees,” the NWS severe weather statement said. “For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building.”

In addition to a severe weather statement, a severe thunderstorm warning and a flood watch also were in place for the Pueblo forecast region.