Colorado's record-setting severe weather season
From the largest hailstone to the most tornadoes in one day, Colorado has set severe weather records in 2023.
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00:00 I have lived in Colorado most of my adult life
00:02 and I have never seen a storm season this crazy.
00:05 After several below average severe weather seasons,
00:08 the high plains have been hammered.
00:09 Large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes
00:11 hit states from New Mexico to Wyoming
00:13 in the late spring and early summer.
00:15 With 88 tornadoes reported so far,
00:18 Colorado ranks third among all states
00:20 in tornado reports this year.
00:22 Typically we see about 50 tornadoes
00:24 in a given year here in Colorado,
00:26 but this year we're only 10 away
00:27 from tying the all time record of 98.
00:30 Over a third of those tornadoes
00:31 touched down on one day back in June,
00:34 setting a new record for most tornadoes
00:36 in a single day in the state.
00:37 June 21st was absolutely insane.
00:40 I saw 19 tornadoes on a single storm
00:43 that actually produced a total of 27
00:45 of the 36 tornadoes reported in the state that day.
00:48 Seven weeks later, eastern Colorado saw more tornadoes,
00:51 including this EF3 tornado near the town of Yuma,
00:54 captured live on the AccuWeather Network
00:56 by law back on August 8th.
00:58 Colorado isn't actually known for strong tornadoes.
01:00 In fact, that Yuma tornado was only the 27th EF3
01:03 or stronger tornado that we've seen in almost 75 years.
01:07 That same storm dropped very large hail.
01:10 One stone set a new state record
01:12 for largest Colorado hailstone
01:14 at five and a quarter inches in diameter.
01:17 Colorado is arguably the hail capital of the world,
01:20 but this year has been crazier than most,
01:22 as we've seen over 70 days with severe hail reports
01:25 and the most four-inch or bigger hail reports
01:27 we've seen in nearly two decades.
01:30 The transition to El Nino has played a role
01:32 in why the season has been so active,
01:34 but the abundance of one key ingredient
01:36 helped push the season into record territory.
01:39 When you have the record rains that we saw
01:41 going into the height of our severe weather season,
01:44 it not only increases the quantity of those events,
01:47 but the quality of them as well,
01:49 and thus you see a season like we had this year
01:51 unlike any other we've seen before.
01:53 For AccuWeather, I'm Jeff Cornish.
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