Weather Updates

DENVER (AP/CBS4) ― The majority of an Aurora mall will continue to be closed Monday as cleanup efforts continue after a tornado damaged cars and roofs, overturned benches and injured a man nearby who was taking photos of the storm.

Southlands Shopping Center spokeswoman Joyce Rocha-Brown said most of the property would remain closed Monday as damage continues to be assessed.

Some stores on the outer edge of the mall were open, but customers were advised to call individual stores or restaurants to verify their status.

Many cars parked in the Southlands parking lot were heavily damaged by the high winds. One vehicle was lifted and dropped onto a median and another was flipped. Others had extensive damage to windshields and windows.

Firefighters said a man was hospitalized with serious injuries that he suffered while taking photographs outside the mall. His name and condition were not being released Monday morning.

Officials also reported gas leaks at the shopping center, but those were cleaned up by midnight.

The same tornado also hit several homes in neighborhoods near the mall. (Full Story)

The tornado was one of five across the state. The others were east of Boulder near Lafayette, and east of Denver in Bennett, Deer Trail and Byers.

The following tornado facts are from Dave Aguilera's Weather 4 Kids section.

Know when to take cover: the difference between a tornado watch and a tornado warning Tornado Watch: Is issued when conditions are just right for tornadoes to develop. It does not mean tornadoes are imminent, just that you should be aware that the possibility is there. When you hear or see that a watch is in effect, you should keep an eye and ear tuned to television or radio so you know what is going on with the weather.

Tornado Warning: Is issued when a tornado has been spotted, or indicated on Doppler radar. When a tornado warning is issued for your town or county you should take immediate safety precautions.

What is a Tornado? A tornado is a rapidly rotating column of air dropping from a strong thunderstorm to the ground. That thunderstorm cloud is known as a cumulonimbus cloud.

What causes a Tornado? Inside a cumulonimbus cloud or thunderstorm, you have updrafts and downdrafts. Warm rises up into the thunderstorm and cold air sinks down in the thunderstorm.

Now all air masses have a certain amount of spin, but, the updrafts and downdrafts in a thunderstorm increase that spin inside the storm. This motion creates a horizontal rotating column of air. The rising and dropping air tilt that column vertically and if that column of air extends to touch the ground, Bingo, you have a tornado!

The technical term for this process is called "Conservation of Angular Momentum." Have you ever seen an ice skater doing spins on the ice? When the skater pulls their arms in close to their body, they can spin faster and faster.

With a thunderstorm, the tighter the spinning air goes, the stronger the rotating column of air gets.

How long can a tornado last? Some twisters may last only for a couple of minutes and are on the ground for a few feet to a few miles. While some can last several minutes to several hours and travel from a few miles to more than a hundred miles. A few of these huge tornadoes may have paths of destruction that are a mile wide.

When do tornadoes occur? In Colorado, primetime for tornadoes is from mid May through mid August. Colorado twisters have been reported in 9 out of 12 months of the year.

The big month for tornadoes is June. Through the years most of the recorded tornadoes in our state have popped up in the month of June.

Most of our tornadoes happen between 1pm and 9 pm. In fact, 88 percent of them occur during this time period. And over half of all twisters threaten between 3pm and 6 pm.

If you break it down by county, Weld County in Northeast Colorado is the big winner or loser (depending on how you look at it) in number of tornadoes. In fact, Weld County on average has one of the biggest numbers of tornadoes across the country! The reason for that is primarily due to Weld counties size. It is 2 to 3 times larger than most counties in the United States. 

Where are Tornadoes most likely to form? Tornadoes can occur anywhere in the state of Colorado, but, most of them develop in Eastern Colorado. Most of those occur east of Interstate 25.

Twisters have been reported in every state in the United States. But, if we look at the nation as a whole, the bulk of tornado producing thunderstorms hit an area that meteorologist call "Tornado Alley." This is an area of land in the nation's midsection that is clobbered by more tornadoes than anyplace else in the world!

This area runs from North Texas through Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and Ohio. That's not to say all tornadoes occur in this area. But, a large number of them do. Other areas that pick up a lot of tornadoes include many southern states like Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. 

How is the Strength of a Tornado measured? Meteorologists use a scale called the "Enhanced F-scale" to measure the power of a tornado. It is a scale that is based upon how much damage any given tornado produces.

*** Important note about F-scale winds: These precise wind speed numbers are actually guesses and have never been scientifically verified. Different wind speeds may cause similar looking damage from place to place. Even from building to building. A new "Enhanced F-scale" will be implemented in February 2007.

The Enhanced F-scale replaced the old Fujita scale, (F-scale), which is named after Professor T. Theodore Fujita, a pioneer in the study fo tornadoes. The new Enhanced F-scale gives more detailed information about damage and winds.

Click here to see the Fujita Scale.

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(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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