COLORADO, USA — The first funnel cloud report came into the 9NEWS Weather Center at 2:09 p.m. Thursday.
Seth Spitler sent in a YouTube link showing a funnel cloud south of Aurora Reservoir.
Then at 3:40 p.m., more funnel reports started coming in from Weld and Morgan counties.
Kyle Gettman saw one looking north from Keenesburg.
Also at 3:40 p.m., Lori Grindle spotted one east of Wiggins. Even though it was the same time, this may be a separate funnel cloud. When conditions are right in the boundary layer for landspout development, those favorable conditions could exist over a large area.
Just before the second round of funnels were spotted, the National Weather Service in Boulder tweeted out a heads-up that funnels or landspouts were possible.
A picture was sent to 9News of what appears to be a funnel cloud, but it is actually a tornado. John Case said he was at the Roggen Farmers Elevator when he saw a twisting cloud over his head.
The whole vortex cannot be seen because the condensation only goes a quarter of the way down, but video from a little further away revealed a puff of dirt where the tornado was making contact with the ground.
A funnel picture was sent to 9NEWS by Jolene Yound Gierach just west of Goodrich. She did not remember what time it was when she saw it though.
We know for sure that there was at least two different funnels, one of which touched down as a tornado. Another tweet from the NWS suggested that there may have been two more in addition to the one in Aurora, and the one spotted by Grindle, Gettman, and Altergott.
There were no tornado warnings issued in Colorado Thursday. The NWS does not have to issue a warning for a funnel cloud unless they believe a tornado is in the process of developing.
The one funnel touched down and lifted before a warning could be issued. Landspout tornadoes do not show up well on radar, because they are usually below the beam. Landspout rarely have a circulation high into the thunderstorm cloud.
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