{"id":1627,"date":"2009-06-03T16:54:29","date_gmt":"2009-06-03T23:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/?p=1627"},"modified":"2011-01-07T20:11:54","modified_gmt":"2011-01-08T03:11:54","slug":"28-years-ago-today-thornton-is-struck-by-a-tornado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/thornton-weather\/28-years-ago-today-thornton-is-struck-by-a-tornado\/","title":{"rendered":"28 years ago today – Thornton is struck by a tornado"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Damage
Damage along Washington was extensive from the tornado that struck Thornton on June 3, 1981. (City of Thornton archives)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was 28 years ago today that the worst tornado to ever strike the Denver metro area hit Thornton.\u00a0 June 3, 1981 is a day that will forever be remembered by longtime residents of the north metro area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last year the Northglenn-Thornton Sentinel did a story about it which you can read by clicking here<\/a>.\u00a0 Also, below is the entry from the National Weather Service’s history calendar – it is very interesting and serves as a good reminder that severe weather can strike anywhere.<\/p>\n

In 1981…severe thunderstorms produced tornadoes over metro Denver.\u00a0 The first tornado touched down at the intersection of Alameda Ave. And Sheridan Blvd.\u00a0 The twister moved north along Sheridan Blvd….damaging businesses…apartment buildings…homes…and vehicles.\u00a0 Over ten homes were unroofed.\u00a0 The roof of one landed in the middle of a neighborhood park.\u00a0 At least 10 mobile homes were wrecked. <\/em><\/p>\n

The tornado curved to the northeast into northwest Denver… Hopping up and down in several places.\u00a0 Very strong winds outside the actual funnel caused 20 to 30 thousand dollars in damage in downtown Denver.\u00a0 The third floor of one old building was demolished.\u00a0 No major injuries were reported from the tornado…although several people were hurt slightly in traffic accidents on Sheridan Blvd. in the confusion caused by the storm.\u00a0 Damage in Lakewood alone was estimated at 200 thousand dollars.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

At the same time… The worst tornado to ever hit metro Denver struck Thornton. Coming from the same thunderstorm that spawned the Denver twister…the Thornton tornado tore a swath through the heart of the city.\u00a0 87 homes were destroyed…110 others damaged at least moderately.\u00a0 In all…600 homes in a 100 block area sustained some damage.\u00a0 The twister also hit shopping centers…several restaurants…and other buildings. Seven of the 42 injured were considered serious.\u00a0 The storm was strong enough to snap lamp posts in half and drive a 6- inch slab of wood 2 feet into the ground.\u00a0 Damage was estimated at up to 50 million dollars.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

The same storm that struck Thornton produced another damaging tornado that touched down in the northwest section of Fort Lupton.\u00a0 This twister damaged 16 homes and numerous cars and campers. Two children were slightly injured when the car they were in was knocked about and its windows shattered by the storm.\u00a0 The twister also damaged two commercial buildings.\u00a0 Damage was very spotty…and observers said the storm hopped up and down at least 3 times.\u00a0 Dollar damage was estimated at 500 thousand dollars.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

The thunderstorm complex that produced 3 damaging tornadoes also dropped large hail which damaged many cars over northwest Denver.\u00a0 One to 2 inches of rain fell in less than an hour…flooding a mobile home park with 3 to 4 feet of water on the northwest edge of Denver.\u00a0 The high water damaged about half of the 392 homes in the park.\u00a0 Local flooding was also reported in other areas across metro Denver.\u00a0 A tornado was also sighted near Franktown…but caused no damage.\u00a0 A thunderstorm wind gust to 52 mph was recorded at Stapleton International Airport.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was 28 years ago today that the worst tornado to ever strike the Denver metro area hit Thornton.\u00a0 June 3, 1981 is a day that will forever be remembered by longtime residents of the north metro area.\u00a0 Last year the Northglenn-Thornton Sentinel did a story about it which you can read by clicking here.\u00a0 … Continue reading 28 years ago today – Thornton is struck by a tornado<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,7],"tags":[36,15],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1627"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1627"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1627\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3277,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1627\/revisions\/3277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thorntonweather.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}