I HATE this weather! (Denver, Thornton: activity, installing, ranked)

[sberdrow]

Wow, before moving to Phoenix, I lived in Loveland, only 6 miles away from that Tornado in. Kind of an Irony that my entire time in Texas, I never saw a hint of a Tornado, and folk told me it just DOES NOT HAPPEN in Northern Colorado. I knew about Hail storms. I knew that you get them frequently in the plains. What a horrible event to happen to such nice folk. Does anyone know if Loveland got hit?

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by Katiana

My condolences go out too, to the family of the person killed in Windsor. Do people not die of the heat in Phoenix? I remember one summer when a number of folks died of the heat in Chicago, a fairly northern city.

Dozens of homeless people die of the heat in Phoenix in the summer. Every summer the AZ Republic publishes the homeless death toll due to dehydration and heat stroke. Other than the homeless population, not really. The reason why Chicago heat waves produce so many deaths (mainly of elderly people) is it's not expected, and many people don't even have air conditioning. Because in Phoenix the heat is always there, and it's a constant, oppressive, day after day after day after day thing during half the year, pretty much 99% of every home and business is air conditioned (or at least swamp cooled, at the minimum). It's the shock of the "waves" of heat that produce so many deaths in places where it's least expected.

[sberdrow]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

Dozens of homeless people die of the heat in Phoenix in the summer. Every summer the AZ Republic publishes the homeless death toll due to dehydration and heat stroke. Other than the homeless population, not really. The reason why Chicago heat waves produce so many deaths (mainly of elderly people) is it's not expected, and many people don't even have air conditioning. Because in Phoenix the heat is always there, and it's a constant, oppressive, day after day after day after day thing during half the year, pretty much 99% of every home and business is air conditioned (or at least swamp cooled, at the minimum). It's the shock of the "waves" of heat that produce so many deaths in places where it's least expected.

its raining today...63 degrees, I miss the oppressive heat

[LBear]

Originally Posted by sberdrow

Does anyone know if Loveland got hit?

Loveland apparently did NOT get hit. It hit Windsor really bad, which is only about 3 miles EAST of I-25. Another twister hit Dacono, which is only 2 miles EAST of I-25.

It looks like an F3 hit Windsor and probably F2's for the others.

Luckily that storm did not intensify until further north. If it intensified around Denver, it would have been DEVASTATING. As the storm kept close to I-25. Thornton & Northglenn would have been hit. The causality rate would be very high. Remember, downtown Denver is NOT immune to being hit by and F3 tornado. Look at Atlanta last month. It hit the downtown area.

The meteorologists on the weather channel affirmed that Denver is part of tornado alley. It is the "beginning area" of tornado alley & gets worse as you head EAST. Typically the tornadoes are WEAKER (F0 or F1) but it can get F2 or greater. This tornado hugged I-25 and ran north. It got within 2 miles of I-25, some say it crossed over WEST of I-25 but I don't know if that is official as of yet.

[steveco.]

Originally Posted by LBear

Loveland apparently did NOT get hit. It hit Windsor really bad, which is only about 3 miles EAST of I-25. Another twister hit Dacono, which is only 2 miles EAST of I-25.

It looks like an F3 hit Windsor and probably F2's for the others.

Luckily that storm did not intensify until further north. If it intensified around Denver, it would have been DEVASTATING. As the storm kept close to I-25. Thornton & Northglenn would have been hit. The causality rate would be very high. Remember, downtown Denver is NOT immune to being hit by and F3 tornado. Look at Atlanta last month. It hit the downtown area.

The meteorologists on the weather channel affirmed that Denver is part of tornado alley. It is the "beginning area" of tornado alley & gets worse as you head EAST. Typically the tornadoes are WEAKER (F0 or F1) but it can get F2 or greater. This tornado hugged I-25 and ran north. It got within 2 miles of I-25, some say it crossed over WEST of I-25 but I don't know if that is official as of yet.

The chances of ANY downtown getting hit by a tornado are extremly low especially since most of these areas are small. Not that it won't happen, even salt lake city was hit by a tornado in its downtown area back in '99.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by jkcoop

I can't rep you so I'm just giving you a verbal thumbs up for that one.....

I grew up in Nebraska than later lived in Dallas....much bigger fear of tornadoes while living there. Now the lightning here on the other hand is a whole other story

I'm loving this rain - don't have to water the yard!

Thanks! In high school when there was a tornado warning, a couple friends and I would jump in the car and go looking for it. I've still never seen one though!

[denverian]

Originally Posted by LBear

Honestly, your childish and completely illogical.

First off, DIA is not 1,000 miles away from Denver. It is called Denver International Airport and it is 10-12 miles from downtown Denver. Highway driving is around 20 miles due to no direct access route. So it is not "way out there".

You act like DIA is 1,000 miles away from Denver. Take a geography course in your junior college, you will see that it is 10-12 miles, as the crow flies, from downtown Denver.

Also, why don't you show show respect, a person died today due to a tornado, just north of Denver. 60,000 people are without power, numerous people are hurt.

You are a disgrace to Denver and society due to your lack of common decency and respect for those injured and dead!

Awwww.... boo hoo! You hurt my wittle feewings!

I'm quite educated - done gradgeated college and all. I know how far DIA is from downtown, and the fact is, tornadoes are more common out there than downtown. I don't know where you'd find the stats, but for every mile east of the mountains, the tornado probability goes up. That's why they say tornadoes are rare west of I-25.

Denver's lucky to have me! And I do feel for those affected by this tornado. It was a freak thing and unfortunate. People die every day in this state from various things and I'd bet more people died this week in Colorado from car accidents than tornadoes.

[denverian]

Originally Posted by LBear

It was actually EIGHT TORNADOES that hit today in the northern Denver area. It appears that it was an F3, but they will not officially rule it until investigators inspect all the damage.

Here is information on the damage and the tornado locations:
CLICK HERE

As residents of Colorado, if we are able to help, please follow the links and they will show how one can help. For the one member who mocks people, the storm and the devastation, please show some respect. You shame Colorado and its residents by your actions.

What actions? All I've done is call you on your "chicken little" attitude toward weather in Denver.

[tfox]

I think what this shows is that there's a lot of myths surrounding tornadoes. One of which is that tornadoes can't happen close to or in the mountains. It is true that tornadoes are more common out east on the plains, but as noted earlier they can and do occur in mountainous areas. Denver has had several encounters with damaging tornadoes even in the city; there has been damaging tornadoes as far west as Broadway in Central Denver. As noted, Salt Lake city's downtown scored a direct hit by a tornado. Phoenix and its suburbs have had a number of tornadoes, and neither of these areas are thought to be tornado-prone.

Colorado wasn't the only place hit by tornado yesterday. Besides the typical tornado-prone states of Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma (in which severe tornadoes are scarcely newsworthy items this time of year), there were a couple twisters to touch down in southern California (Riverside County), along with severe thunderstorms blanketing nearly all of Socal.

Apparently the NWS is calling for this spring to potentially be in the record books for severe weather, including tornadoes, including in places well outside of Tornado Alley. Stay tuned -- this won't be the last we're going to hear about tornadoes this year. And despite what some might like to think, there's virtually nowhere in the country completely safe from the threat of tornadoes.

[steveco.]

In the greater picture though we experienced just a fraction of the weather the south east u.s. has been hit with lately. Our tornadoes look like dust devils compared to the monsters out there.