Severe Weather Reports for May 22 and May 23, 2021

Severe thunderstorms moved across northeast Colorado this past weekend (May 22 and 23), producing large hail, damaging winds, and numerous tornadoes.

A total of 16 tornadoes occurred over the weekend, with nine on Saturday and another seven on Sunday. Of the seven on Sunday, six were associated with the supercell thunderstorm that raced north/northeast from southwest Washington County through Logan County. On Saturday, five tornadoes developed along and near a stationary front, while four others occurred in southwest Lincoln County as a severe storm tracked almost straight north toward Limon. Fortunately, all of the tornadoes lifted before reaching the town.

Almost all of these tornadoes will be ranked EF-0 or EF-UNK (unknown) since they fortunately touched down in open fields and produced no damage. However, two of the tornadoes will be rated EF-1 as they knocked down a total of 20 power poles. An EF-1 rating would suggest winds of 86-110 mph. The locations of the EF-1 tornadoes was along Highway 61 about 4 miles southeast of Sterling, while the other occurred near Proctor, CO. There was also a report of 3" diameter hail about 5 miles north/northwest of Proctor from the storm late Sunday afternoon.

A full list of severe weather reports and zoomable map can be found here.

Static map showing locations of severe weather reports May 22-23.

Image of large hail taken in Logan County (photo courtesy of Veronica Betancourt Hernandez).

No photo description available.