6/6/90 Limon, CO

[Scott Hammel]

I'd like to think that this tornado was what originally got me so interested in severe weather. Granted, I was 12 years old at the time but I remember seeing the damage and destruction on the the news that night and honestly think it was the first time I'd ever been speechless over something the weather had done.

I rarely see footage or pictures of this tornado. It happened around 8PM so it was just around dark and obviously is why not many photo's exist but was just curious if anyone on this board chased this event or had any stories to share about it? I couldn't help but think about it when I was chasing a supercell in Elbert county on June 15th that produced 4 tornadoes. Here I was sitting in Limon 19 years later filming a massive wall cloud in the same city that was practically destroyed by a tornado which led to my interest in storm chasing to begin with. Definitely a full circle type moment for me personally.

The other story out of this tornado that I remember is then Governor Roy Romer had just been exposed to be having an affair with his aide. Bam, tornado happens the same day and the very next day, he's down in Limon with sleeves rolled up, telling everyone things will be okay, and the story of the affair was completely forgotten. Thus coined the term, "Good timing on that one, it's your Limon tornado!" Anyway, like I said, if anyone has any good chase stories about this event, I'm all ears!

[Eian Greene]

I'd like to think that this tornado was what originally got me so interested in severe weather. Granted, I was 12 years old at the time but I remember seeing the damage and destruction on the the news that night and honestly think it was the first time I'd ever been speechless over something the weather had done.

I rarely see footage or pictures of this tornado. It happened around 8PM so it was just around dark and obviously is why not many photo's exist but was just curious if anyone on this board chased this event or had any stories to share about it? I couldn't help but think about it when I was chasing a supercell in Elbert county on June 15th that produced 4 tornadoes. Here I was sitting in Limon 19 years later filming a massive wall cloud in the same city that was practically destroyed by a tornado which led to my interest in storm chasing to begin with. Definitely a full circle type moment for me personally.

The other story out of this tornado that I remember is then Governor Roy Romer had just been exposed to be having an affair with his aide. Bam, tornado happens the same day and the very next day, he's down in Limon with sleeves rolled up, telling everyone things will be okay, and the story of the affair was completely forgotten. Thus coined the term, "Good timing on that one, it's your Limon tornado!" Anyway, like I said, if anyone has any good chase stories about this event, I'm all ears!
The Limon tornado touched down in Matheson and tore through fields for roughly 16 miles before arriving in Limon. Long track tornadoes like that one are quite rare in that area. I'm on a hunt for photos, and all I'm turning up is various research papers regarding atmospheric instability, mixing, and mesoscale factors, etc. As well as plenty of newspaper results.

[Mark Blue]

I too remember this tornado as it happened a couple of years after we moved to Colorado. I remember a professor at Metro State talking about chasing this event in the fall of 1990. His name was Tony Rockwood and he taught Synoptic Meteorology II at Metro during the time. I believe he worked at NOAA in Boulder at the time as well and he and a couple of his coworkers headed out to chase this on the afternoon it happened. I'll have to do some looking around on the internet to see if there are an pictures I can dig up. I'm glad you posted this as I was just thinking about it the other day. If I remember correctly the tornado that hit town was an F3.

[Eric Treece]

I remember seeing some footage of this tornado I believe in the TVC series. It looked very similar to the Last Chance tornado that Bill Reid shot. I remember the footage very well because the one guy ran out of "F'n" film. The tornado eventually became rain wrapped as it went into Limon and then they started filming gustnadoes.