Officials confirm one of the highest-elevation twisters on record
The tornado touched down on a mountain in Colorado on Sept. 13
One of the highest-elevation tornadoes on record occurred in Colorado back on Sept. 13, officials recently confirmed.
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Colorado tornado hit at very high elevation
A severe thunderstorm in western Colorado spawned a tornado on the northern slopes of Colorado’s Sawtooth Mountain at an impressive elevation of 3,444 metres—just a few hundred metres lower than the highest-ever observed twister.
The tornado produced EF-1 damage to trees with estimated winds peaking around 142 km/h. Satellite imagery revealed a damage path about 1.3 kilometres long and around 87 metres wide at its largest point.
High mountain tornadoes are rare
It’s rare for Colorado to record tornadoes west of the Front Range due the region’s mountainous terrain. Tornadoes are uncommon at very high elevation due to drier air and less favourable thunderstorm dynamics.
The Sawtooth Mountain tornado now ranks among the world’s highest-elevation twisters on record.
A tornado that touched down in California’s Sequoia National Park on July 7, 2004, holds the record at 3,705 metres in elevation.
U.S. has seen more than 1,200 tornadoes in 2025
It’s been an active year for tornadoes across the United States. Averaging around 1,200 twisters per year, the U.S. is the most tornado-prone country on Earth.
According to preliminary surveys conducted by the U.S. National Weather Service, there have already been more than 1,200 tornadoes confirmed across the contiguous 48 states between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, with three months left in the year.
The southern U.S. experiences a secondary uptick in tornado activity during the autumn months as classic fall storms begin sweeping across the country.
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