Woodland Park EF-1 tornado confirmed by National Weather Service
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An EF-1 tornado with peak wind speeds of 110 mph hit the north side of Woodland Park on July 30, the National Weather Service in Pueblo confirmed in a damage assessment conducted Aug. 4 after delayed reports of tree damage.
The tornado had a maximum width of 50 yards and touched down for six minutes across 0.8 miles causing “extensive” tree damage.
“Fortunately, it didn’t really hit anything other than trees so you know in that respect we were fortunate,” said Eric Petersen, meteorologist with the Weather Service. “A 110-mph wind will cause damage to a lot of things [and] a lot of structures if it does hit.”
The tornado was the maximum estimated peak wind speed for an EF-1 rating, which is categorized to have wind speeds from 86 to 110 mph.
Petersen said tornadoes in the mountains are short-lived due to less intense rotation and that they are not “completely unprecedented.”
“It is a little unusual to see them in Teller County in Woodland Park and we’ve had a couple over the last year or two in Teller County so that part is just a little unusual it happens but it’s fairly rare,” Petersen said.
In June, another EF-1 tornado with wind speeds of 106 mph impacted an unincorporated part of Teller County near Divide, according to previous reporting by The Gazette.
On the same day as the Woodland Park tornado, an EF-0 tornado touched down in Custer County near Westcliffe for five minutes, crossing nearly a half mile. The sustained winds were 85 mph, one mph below the EF-1 criteria, according to the Weather Service damage assessment.
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