The National Weather Service completed an assessment of the damage caused during yesterday’s severe weather in the Denver metro area. They determined that a tornado did indeed touch down and was responsible for the bulk of the damage in Aurora.
The service said the twister was on the ground for 2.8 miles as it passed through Aurora. It however was not a wide tornado only reaching a maximum of 50 yards. Maximum winds were estimated at 86 to 90 mph giving it an EF-1 rating.
The complete text from the National Weather Service statement follows:
NOUS45 KBOU 251829 CCA PNSBOU COZ030>051-260600- PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...CORRECTED ENDING TIME NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER, CO 1148 AM MDT THU JUN 25 2015 ...NWS DAMAGE SURVEY FOR 06/24/2015 TORNADO EVENT... .EAST DENVER/WEST AURORA TORNADO... RATING: EF-1 ESTIMATED PEAK WIND: 86-90 MPH PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/: 2.8 MILES PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/: 50 YARDS FATALITIES: 0 INJURIES: 0 START DATE: 06-24-2015 START TIME: 4:48 PM START LOCATION: 39.724808/-104.900896 END DATE: 06-24-2015 END TIME: 5:10 PM END LOCATION: 39.736784/-104.851191 ON WEDNESDAY, JUNE 24TH BETWEEN 4:48PM AND 5:10 PM, A TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN EAST DENVER AND WEST AURORA. THE TORNADO FIRST TOUCHED DOWN NEAR QUEBEC AND 6TH AVE. IT THEN MOVED EAST-NORTHEAST ACROSS THE LOWRY CAMPUS INTO THE WEST PART OF AURORA. THE TORNADO THEN LIFTED NEAR MOUNT NEBO MEMORIAL PARK. BASED ON TREE DAMAGE THERE WAS LOW END EF1 WITH WIND SPEEDS ESTIMATED IN THE 86-90 MPH RANGE. MOST OF THE DAMAGE CAUSED BY THE TORNADO WAS IN THE EF0 RANGE.SOME HOMES HAD MINOR ROOF DAMAGE WITH ONE FORMER APARTMENT BUILDING ON THE LOWRY CAMPUS HAVING SOME HIGHER END ROOF DAMAGE WITH ESTIMATED WIND SPEEDS IN THE 86-90 MPH RANGE.THE TORNADO PATH LENGTH BASED ON DAMAGE POINTS WAS 2.8 MILES AND THE WIDTH WAS LESS THAN 50 YARDS. EF SCALE: THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE CLASSIFIES TORNADOES INTO THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES. EF0...WEAK...... 65 TO 85 MPH EF1...WEAK...... 86 TO 110 MPH EF2...STRONG.... 111 TO 135 MPH EF3...STRONG.... 136 TO 165 MPH EF4...VIOLENT... 166 TO 200 MPH EF5...VIOLENT... >200 MPH NOTE: THE INFORMATION IN THIS STATEMENT IS PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE PENDING FINAL REVIEW OF THE EVENT AND PUBLICATION IN NWS STORM DATA.