Severe weather with hail, lightning and heavy rains rumbled across the southern Denver area Wednesday and out onto the Eastern Plains, hitting Washington County hard where multiple tornado sightings were reported.
“This was a pretty impressive event,” said Evan Direnzo, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boulder. “We knew this was going to be a good afternoon and evening, storm-wise.”
The threat for severe weather has decreased. Storms are moving generally towards the north-northeast and may produce sub-severe hail, strong winds up to 50 mph, and heavy rainfall. With any areas receiving heavy rain, the potential for flash flooding exists. #COwx #KSwx #NEwx pic.twitter.com/8c20WsSVW0
— NWS Goodland (@NWSGoodland) May 11, 2023
The biggest hail, a 4-inch stone according to the weather service, fell northeast of Gary in Morgan County about 5:50 p.m., Direnzo said. The Woodrow area, in Washington County, recorded 3-inch stone hail about 6:10 p.m.
Before the hail storm moved out onto the plains, the southern metro area received widespread afternoon hail including in Centennial, Castle Rock and Franktown, as the storm tracked to the northeast out of Douglas and Arapahoe counties where 2-inch hail was reported in some areas.
Eight tornado sightings were reported in Washington County, including two outside of Akron about 6:30 p.m., by weather spotters, Direnzo said. Based on initial findings, the weather service believes that possibly three tornados touched down, with spotters reporting the same tornado from different vantage points. The weather service will continue to verify tornado touch downs from the storm in upcoming days and weeks.
The same plains area that was hit hard by hail and had tornado sightings also was pounded by heavy rain. Western Washington County, up into southwest Logan County and eastern Morgan County saw heavy rain, with more than an inch in some areas, Direnzo said. A flash flood advisory was posted for the area through 9:45 p.m.
The impressive storm system unleashed lightning, including cloud-to-ground strikes, throughout the afternoon and into the evening in widespread areas.
“Nothing really got missed,” Direnzo said of weather forecasters efforts in predicting and tracking the storm. “We did pretty well.”
