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Mount Evans tornado almost breaks a national record
Posted: Jul 29, 2012 4:19 PM by Lacey Steele
A tornado that touched down near Mount Evans at 11,900 feet elevation is a record breaker in Colorado, and it's close to the national record.
Those with the National Weather Service tell us they did find one that touched down a little higher, around 12,000 feet.
That was in California in 2004.
These tornadoes in the mountains are rare events.
"There are probably around a couple dozen at the most, tornadoes that have occurred in our mountains, and that's since 1995 to 2011, so very few," said Kathleen Torgerson, a National Weather Service Meteorologist.
They add tornadoes can happen in mountains if the weather is volatile enough.
Sometimes it may not be volatile, but it can cause a spin in an updraft.
That's what happened at Mount Evans which caused a brief, weak tornado.
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