Tornado activity and severe weather

Area residents began calling the Kimball County Sheriff's Office Monday afternoon, concerned that a tornado had touched down at or near the Four Winds Golf Course, according to Kimball County Sheriff Harry Gillway.

Though the tornado was in northern Colorado, its size had many assuming it was much closer to Kimball.

Gillway said that he knew before he left his home on Memorial Day, May 30, that it was going to be a stormy day near the Kimball area. Indeed, he said that the excitement began at 12:41 p.m. that afternoon, prompting him to text his deputy, Brandon Loy.

"Pretty good storm South of Burns," was the first text regarding the weather to his deputy.

"It figures," was the response from the deputy, "Always storms on Memorial Day."

At 1:08 p.m. Gillway texted Loy, "It's growing..." Loy then responded to the sheriff by letting him know that he was checking the weather app and that there was a "hook" down near the Grover, Colo. Area.

"Yep." responded the sheriff in a text reply and informed the deputy that he was heading that way.

The officers kept a vigilant eye on the storms surrounding the Kimball County area for the safety of the public.

"There were no warnings or tornado watches out for our area," Gillway added. "Storms can form quickly, and can grow very tall."

Gillway added that the height of the now infamous Colorado Memorial Day tornado , nearly two miles high, led to the calls from area citizens.

"This particular one was 8,000 to 10,000 feet tall. They are usually not that tall," explained Gillway. "The funnels were actually quite a ways away."

At 2:17 p.m. from his location at County Roads 47 and 14, Gillway made a call to the National Weather Service that a rope twister was on the ground southeast of his location.

"Rope twisters are tall, but do not form in a mesocyclone, so there is minimum damage and they don't grow very large," he explained

He added that during his storm chasing adventures that day he witnessed a total of five different funnels, but only the one touched the ground.

After some investigation of the area affected by the wind spout Gillway stated that there was some damage to CRP land, on County Roads 59 and 6. It was at this location that the tornado crossed over into Colorado.

Gillway said that after the visual of the tornado, he stopped at a location to get out of his car and check his surroundings.

"As you chase one (storm), you have to be mindful if there might be one behind you," Gillway said.

Gillway's patrol car received some damage from the nickel to quarter size hail that the storm spit out during the excitement, but the officer said that the damage to his vehicle was "just a few dings."