Windsor marks one year anniversary of EF3 tornado

The town of Windsor, Colorado was forever changed when an
EF3 tornado ripped through it one year ago today.  View our
slideshow below for more incredible images.

May 22, 2008 was like most any spring day along the Colorado Front Range.  The morning started out a bit warmer than usual and it was more humid but there was nothing to indicate the havoc that was soon to be visited upon Windsor, Colorado.

As the morning wore on, high above the plains the jet stream was moving at 120 mph and temperatures were warming quickly.  From Denver looking north huge clouds began to build miles into the sky – an ominous sign of what was to come.  A supercell thunderstorm, one more like what you expect to see in Oklahoma, was forming quickly.

At 11:30am the warnings were going out from the National Weather Service.  This was not your typical thunderstorm.  Soon a Gilcrest police officer radioed, “We have a tornado on the ground!”

• Slideshow:  Images of the Windsor Tornado destruction
• Video:  Raw video of the twister moving toward Windsor

Three tornadoes touched down that morning in northern Colorado but one stands out.  The supercell that was near Windsor was growing in size and the twister that developed was massive – ¾ of a mile wide.  Rated by the National Weather Service as an EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale with winds in excess of 136 mph, what was described as a “big, black monster" would tear a path 35 miles long. 

Radar showed the size of the massive Windsor Tornado on
May 22, 2008.  Image courtesy ThorntonWeather.com.  More
images in our slideshow below.

From Gilcrest the twister moved to the northwest, a highly unusual direction as most move to the northeast.  It passed near Miliken, through West Greeley and then north straight toward the town of Windsor 45 miles north of Denver.

For a heart pounding 45 minutes, area residents scrambled to seek shelter and save themselves and their loved ones.  At the Windmill Child Enrichment Center daycare, teachers gathered 100 children in the gym and hallways as debris swirled and winds began to rip the roof from the building.  Other residents hid in basements while those working in offices just outside town watched in horror as the twister destroyed their homes. 

Hundreds of people received injuries, most minor.  52 year old veteran Oscar Manchester was killed at a campground near Greeley and was the only fatality from the twister.  Tomorrow a bench will be dedicated in his name outside Missile Silo Park. 

By the time the storm ended, 80 homes were destroyed and 770 others were damaged.  Cars lie on the roofs, trains weighing tens of thousands of pounds were overturned on their side, hundreds of power and telephone lines were downed.  Splintered wood, shattered glass and twisted metal were scattered across what looked like a war zone.  In the end, more than $193 million in damage was done making it the most expensive tornado to strike Colorado in history.

Part of the roof of city hall sits on a Ford Expedition parked in
front of an insurance agency in the north-central Colorado
community of Windsor on May 22, 2008 after the tornado passed
through the community. (David Zalubowski/AP Photo)
View our slideshow below for images of the destruction.

In a showcase of all that is good about small communities and about Colorado as whole, aid immediately began streaming in.  Police and fire units from across the region rushed to the scene and began digging out those buried under rubble.  The National Guard sent helicopters with medics and the Red Cross setup shelters and provided needed food and water to those left homeless that day.  Donations from across the state would help to sustain this community as the clean-up efforts began and residents came to grips with the wrath Mother Nature had visited upon them. 

One year removed from that fateful day, Windsor is still rebuilding.  The Windmill daycare center has been repaired as has Missile Silo Park.  Most of the homes that were destroyed or damaged have been rebuilt or fixed and the town’s recreation center that was damaged has been repaired. 

Despite the progress, the scars from the storm are still very visible. 

The Brown Cow Dairy that was destroyed just west of Greeley won’t be rebuilt and where the Treasure Island mobile home park once sat is now just a vacant field.  The winds from the twister destroyed most of the trees, many more than 100 years old that helped to give the town character.  Much of their bark stripped from them, those trees that did survive only have a few leaves on them this spring.

Marking the rebuilding and the spirit of this rural town, hundreds of new trees have been planted and this evening the town will gather to mark the anniversary.  Last year youth baseball was put on hold due to the twister.  This afternoon at 5:30 the three renovated fields at Chimney Park will host three games and simultaneous pitches will be thrown out from the pitcher mounds signifying a new baseball season and more importantly, a new beginning for Windsor, Colorado.