Conclusion
On November 4, 1922, a most unusual, and devastating, outbreak of tornadoes occurred across eastern Colorado. It was the 2nd-deadliest day in state history from tornadoes, with at least 5 (possibly 6) people losing their lives, along with another fatality in the blizzard conditions that followed the severe weather. These are also the only tornadoes ever to be recorded in November in Colorado. The brief analysis presented here shows that a deep upper-level trough of low pressure over the Four Corners and a developing surface cyclone in eastern Colorado set the stage for severe thunderstorms on this day, and a high-resolution computer simulation sheds light on how the storms may have behaved during this historic event.
Acknowledgements
Huge thanks go to the
Colorado Historic Newspapers project at the Colorado State Library, for archiving the news reports used here. Thanks also go to Annette Barber of the Crowley County Heritage Center, Mary Beth Tucker of CSU Extension in Crowley County, and Lane Simmons of the CSU Rocky Ford Research Station for helping to find valuable details about this event. Thanks also to Greg Heavener, Kyle Mozley, Jonathan Finch, and Steve Hodanish of the National Weather Service for pointing me to some of the relevant news stories that described the event. And thanks to the folks behind tornadoarchive.com for digitizing and maintaining historic tornado records.