5 Tornadoes Touch Down in Colorado, Mall Damaged

[steven johnson]

Source: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: June 7, 2009
Filed at 8:19 p.m. ET

AURORA, Colo. (AP) -- At least five tornadoes touched down in Colorado on Sunday, with one overturning benches and a car outside a mall in a Denver suburb.

There were no immediate reports of serious injuries. Firefighters reported moderate damage and gas leaks at the Southlands Mall, which was forced to close.

The National Weather Service said the tornado that damaged the mall touched down south of Buckley Air Force Base just before 2 p.m. and may have been on the ground for about 30 minutes, taking an 8- to 10-mile path across southeast Aurora.

Heating, ventilation and air conditioning units on the mall roof were damaged. Mall spokeswoman Joyce Rocha-Brown said damage was being assessed and no decision had been made on when the building might reopen.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/06/07/us/AP-US-Colorado-Tornadoes.html?_r=1

[kestrel91316]

1. Wow. I'm not sure I can recall any tornadoes along the Front Range

the whole time I lived in CO (1974-1982).

[bloomington-lib]

2. I used to live in Fort Collins and

I can't remember any on the Front Range either. Anytime something did happen (floods, landslides, etc) someone would say "at least we don't have tornadoes".

[kestrel91316]

7. Yeah, that's where I was. Tornadoes were something that happened way

out on the plains and usually clear into KS and NE.

[pasto76]

3. there have been a bunch last few years

Last year windsor had a whopper rip through town. good clips of it on Youtube.

There was even a tornado out at 11 mile resevoir last summer. I had just driven through the area, and as I was passing through Florrisant, saw a few bikers pointing back west. I saw the tornado in my rear view mirror for a few seconds. Also clips on youtube.

[create.peace]

4. tornado history, colorado

http://www.tornadoproject.com/alltorns/cotorn.htm

[SkyDaddy7]

9. Thanks!!!

I wanted to thank you for the link! I never knew such a log existed...There are links to all types of weather events.

[madamesilverspurs]

5. Just last year

a tornado cut a swath from Platteville to Wyoming, destroying a dairy farm on the west side of Greeley, and causing major damage in Windsor. Tornado activity is not new in Colorado. In fact, there was a section of the plains that was considered, by the indigenous peoples, to belong to the gods who used tornados to keep humans off. It still gets a lot of activity, even though the city of Denver purchased the land and built Denver International Airport. In '96 I was returning from a trip to Albuquerque, normally a 40 minute flight, and we had to circle for about three hours due to six tornados on the runway.

[Juan_de_la_Dem]

6. Close to my house. If I could figure out how, I'd post the pics I took

[donco6]

8. We've had a violent season. But tornadoes are not unheard of.

Usually, they're just not well-developed (except for the Windsor monster last year). The one by the mall was pretty small, but still had enough oompf to break lots of windows and throw stuff about.

What really gets us here is HAIL. I'm waiting for another big one.

[elway7]

10. Actually I live in Fort Collins right now and have lived here for the last three years.

Last year there was an F-2 that hit about 10 miles from here in a town called Windsor that was far worse than today's events. Colorado is in the very western portion of tornado alley. It really is not unusual.

[Hawkeye-X]

11. I live in Denver, and I know Southlands well

It's a REALLY bad area, because way out east is the tornado area, and they BUILT a mall over there. Bad idea...