How frequent are tornadoes in May?
The National Weather Service confirms wind speeds of up to 130 mph during the tornado in Wray over the weekend.
Wray is in northeastern Colorado, near the Kansas-Nebraska state lines.
And the cleanup continues there after a tornado ripped through Yuma County this weekend.
The tornado was captured in dramatic fashion by storm chasers.
The people in the path of the storm say they could sense something coming.
Sara Bevon said, “We did have that moment of silence where you’re waiting for the next phase to hit.”
While northeastern Colorado is in Tornado Alley, tornadoes are possible in our area as well.
One year ago on May 9, a tornado touched down in eastern El Paso County.
Scott Hall is a storm chaser who tracked it at that time. He said, “About 10 minutes into it, we started seeing some rotation and started videoing. The rotation finally dropped down. We watched the tornado go up and down, probably about 10 or 15 times.”
While that tornado was not as strong as the one that struck near Wray, it could have been. Since 1995, Southern Colorado has seen 248 tornadoes.
Tom Magnuson from the National Weather Service office in Pueblo said, “We have had a dozen EF-2 tornadoes in that time period and two EF-3 tornadoes. So it’s not unusual at all that we get these types of tornadoes.”
Videos like the ones making the rounds on social media show the power of tornadoes that sometimes strike Southern Colorado during the months of May and June.
But what do the experts at the National Weather Service think that the rest of the season holds for our area?
“We’re always on guard now in May and June. With El Nio ending we are going to have some severe weather coming our way.
Whether that means more tornado damage is hard to predict, according to Magnuson but one thing is certain.
“We still have a chance for above normal precipitation in May and June,” he said.
In the last 21 years, Southern Colorado has seen 70 tornadoes in May and 78 in June.
And you can stay ahead of the storm with our StormTracker 13 app.
Get it at the app store or on Google Play.
