Picture of the Month:
Chapparal Tornado
This picture shows a typical tornado one might see in the vicinity of the Rancho during June, July or August.
But you have to keep your eyes open because we don't have them every year. Historically, prior to the year 2000, Colorado experienced only 348 tornados in 25 years. Thats about 14 per year and almost all of them were in the far eastern part of the state. In the 25 years we have lived at the Rancho we've seen only 3 or 4 funnel clouds or actual tornadoes.
Because most of our severe thunderstorms build east of the mountains, the thunderstorms that are large enough to spawn tornadoes haven't had much time to develop. So our tornadoes are usually small. That doesn't mean they aren't destructive, witness the one that passed through Limon in 1990 or the Windsor one of May 26, 2008.
In this picture, you can see the entire funnel from cloud base to ground. However, in many Colorado tornadoes the central part of the funnel isn't visible because there aren't enough dust or water droplets to see so one has to look for the debris cloud just above the ground to make sure it is an actual tornado and not just a funnel. Many times weak tornadoes are simply rotating clouds of dust and debris, often called Gustnadoes or Landspouts.
This photo is courtesy of Eric Rinehart, a local resident and Captain in the fire department.