DENVER – The National Weather Service issued four tornado warnings for areas including Westminster, Broomfield, Thornton, Brighton and Parker Thursday afternoon— all of which expired by 4 p.m. But strong storms were still pushing to the northeast.
A fifth tornado warning was issued for a rural part of southeast Phillips County until 5 p.m., and a sixth was issued for northeastern Phillips County, though both had expired by shortly after 5:30 p.m. However, a tornado warning was still in effect for the Nebraska counties just across the border from Phillips County.
The first tornado warning for areas including Broomfield and Thornton was radar-indicated in in effect until 3:15 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. The bulk of the warmed storm was located near Broomfield as of 2:50 p.m. and was moving toward the northeast.
A second tornado warning was issued at 3:05 p.m. for areas including Brighton, Frederick and Fort Lupton until 3:30 p.m.
Tornado Warning including Brighton CO, Frederick CO, Fort Lupton CO until 3:30 PM MDT pic.twitter.com/C3JSfDCS8j
— NWS Boulder (@NWSBoulder) August 19, 2021
Adams 12 Five Star Schools said all schools were in shelter in place orders for the full district during the warning. The district said just before 3:40 p.m. that students were being dismissed. Middle school release times will be normal. Bus drop-off times will be delayed by at least 30 minutes.
St. Vrain Valley Schools also had students shelter in place during the warning.
And a third tornado warning was issued for the areas including Parker and Franktown until 3:30 p.m.
All three tornado warnings had expired by 3:30 p.m.
But at 3:48 p.m., the fourth warning was issued for areas east of Parker and north of Elizabeth which will be in effect until 4 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. That warning was also allowed to expire.
Several severe thunderstorm warnings are still in effect around the metro area, and there is a severe thunderstorm watch in effect for most of the Eastern Plains. The National Weather Service said a storm headed toward Masters and Roggen along I-76 was producing hail up to the size of tennis balls.
There are also flood advisories in effect across areas of the metro area that saw extremely heavy rain.
There have so far been no reports of any tornadoes touching down.
Denver International Airport said inbound flights were delayed about an hour and a half and departures were delayed up to an hour because of the storms.
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