Severe weather swept through the Front Range on Thursday afternoon, with three tornado warnings issued around 3 p.m. in the Denver metro area.
Severe thunderstorms rumbled along the Front Range, unleashing lightning and thunder, along with hail and brief but heavy rains.
Pea- to quarter-sized hail up to an inch in diameter was reported in Arvada, Broomfield and Westminster. The metro area and 11 counties remained under a severe thunderstorm watch through 8 p.m. Thursday.
The storm system moved from the northwest to the southeast along the Front Range. A funnel was spotted, but there were no reports of one touching down.
Brief time lapse of the tornado-warned storm as it zipped through Broomfield and Westminster. #cowx pic.twitter.com/pwLc9TjEGr
— Ryan Harp (@RyanDHarp) August 19, 2021
At Front Range Gardens in Broomfield, a burst of hail damaged some of the greenhouse roofs at the business, according to a staffer.
The three afternoon tornado warnings were posted primarily for northern Jefferson County, southeast of Boulder and northwest of Denver; north of Denver International Airport along Interstate 76 in Weld County; and in Douglas County around Castle Rock.
A tornado warning was in effect in Douglas and Elbert counties until 4:15 p.m. Thursday, according to the National Weather Service in Boulder. Warnings for Thornton, Denver, Westminster, Arvada, Brighton, Frederick, Fort Lupton, Broomfield, Parker and Frankton expired earlier in the afternoon.
Warning sirens were activated in Adams County and in Brighton because of the ominous weather.
Severe thunderstorms and Tornado Warnings are currently in effect for the Front Range Urban Corridor. #cowx pic.twitter.com/1DfU1xMkkI
— NWS Boulder (@NWSBoulder) August 19, 2021
More showers and thunderstorms were expected in the metro area into the evening and the night. “It’s hard to say how severe” the late-day and night-time storms will be, said Jim Kalina, a NWS meteorologist in Boulder.
A tornado watch was posted for far northeastern Colorado until 11 p.m. Thursday, including the cities of Akron, Holyoke, Julesburg and Sterling.
In Denver on Friday there’s a 20% chance of showers before 7 a.m., according to the weather service, and then skies will clear out for a sunny day with a high temperature near 83 degrees.
This content was originally published here.
