Was it a tornado? KRDO13 investigates Teller County damage with National Weather Service

TELLER COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- UPDATE 6/18: The National Weather Service (NWS) has confirmed an EF-1 tornado with 106 MPH wind gusts was in Teller County, 2 miles north-northeast of Divide, Colorado at 12:41 p.m. on Tuesday.

The agency says the exact track of the tornado still needs to be pieced together as they await drone footage to make that call.

PREVIOUS REPORTING: KRDO13 viewers sent in video and photos of the wind rotations and hail; now, the minds behind those weather alerts you receive are tracking that damage.

On Wednesday, KRDO13 got to join in on the process the National Weather Service follows to make the determination.

Teller County Emergency Management tells the NWS that neighborhoods in Divide were hit the hardest with strong winds, knocking down huge trees and snapping some in half. KRDO13 spoke with one family who said they lost 24 trees at their home alone. 

When our crews were out with the NWS, they told us that the way the trees were knocked down is a huge part of determining whether there was a tornado or not. NWS says if all the trees fall in the same direction, that's a sign of strong winds, but if the trees are crisscrossed and going in all different ways, that is a sign of a tornado.

"When it comes to tornadoes, at the center point right there, winds are going counterclockwise around it. So it's good to find an un-uniform, if that's a word, kind of damage across the area," explained a member of the National Weather Service.

NWS meteorologists take pictures of each tree and gather data to work towards an answer. 

"This is a damage indicator; it's snapped in half. Or at least at the kind of the base of the trunk. So that's something that's going to be playing into a factor of determining the wind speeds, from this tornado or potential tornado," explained NWS warning coordination meteorologist, Klint Skelly.

He says the pictures help them to piece together the path of the tornado like clues.

"We have this thing called the Dorm Assessment Toolkit. It's through the National Weather Service, but essentially it's an application that uses survey one, two, three, and you can go in, take a photo. It'll take in the latitude of longitude, and then we can start piecing together the track of the potential tornado," shared Skelly.

The storm left very real damage for the families in Divide and their trees. The Kimler family tells KRDO13 that 24 of their trees were damaged in the storm.

"We had tornado warnings, but never anything like this," explained Michelle Kimler.

She says she took her niece out for a drive to Cripple Creek Tuesday morning and by the time they returned to Divide, she says she couldn't pull into her driveway because there were so many downed trees blocking the way. Kimler says she's lucky she moved her car.

"This tree behind me would have hit my car. Because exactly where my car is parked right now, it would have done a lot of damage," explained Kimler.

She pointed to the stump of what was left behind from the tall tree that fell in the extreme winds.

Neighbors in the area told KRDO13 that veteran-owned Peak Landscapes came to their neighborhood after the tornado and helped to pick up some of the debris and downed trees. They say they helped to cut up large portions of lumber and haul it away for free. The Teller County Sheriff's Office (TCSO) tells KRDO13 there is no official service or plan in place to assist residents with removing debris. Residents did say Teller County commissioners came to their homes following the storm to check in and see if they were ok.

Luckily, no one has been reported injured, and no serious damage has been reported to homes. NWS says this is part of why warnings and seeing the aftermath can be so important.

"The mission of the National Weather Service is to protect life and property. And, you know, it kind of proves the point of the warnings that we're putting out," explained Skelly.

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