Mile-Wide Tornado Hits Northern Colorado
Source: KBMT News
A large wedge-shaped tornado blew through Weld County, Colorado Thursday. The storm brough heavy rain, large hail and strong winds to several towns in the northern part of the state. The tornado damaged homes, farm buildings, agricultural equipment and knocked out power to over sixty thousand customers.
Authorities say Windsor, a small farm town of about sixteen thousand people was hardest hit. This tornado was just one of 46 reports received at the Storm Prediction Center.
Video Source: 9News.com
Source: Denver Post
A train was blown off its tracks by the tornado in Windsor.
(Steve Nehf | The Denver Post)
Tim Stradem looks out from the second floor of his Windsor home Thursday afternoon after a tornado blew the side of his house out.
(THE DENVER POST | KARL GEHRING)
On Track Toward a Record Spring for Tornadoes
Source: Christian Science Monitor
Extremes in temperature throughout the vast table of the American heartland are making 2008 one of the deadliest years for US tornadoes in recent history.
The supercell thunderstorms that breed twisters have occurred farther north and earlier in the year than is typical, according to some experts. But many are quick to add that this increase in severe weather is not necessarily an indication of permanent climate change.
According to the National Weather Service, about 100 people have died in tornadoes this year. It is the sheer number of storms, not necessarily their ferocity, that has made 2008 a record year. Through May 11, the United States has experienced between 650 and 700 separate tornadoes, figures Harold Brooks, a research meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Severe Storms Laboratory. That would put 2008 right up with 1999, which had 676 tornadoes between January and mid-May – the most on record.