Much of eastern Colorado is under a tornado or severe thunderstorm watch through 9 p.m. Saturday as a round of strong to severe storms fires across the plains this afternoon and evening. Forecasters are warning of very large hail, damaging wind gusts and a few tornadoes, with the Storm Prediction Center placing the far eastern plains in an enhanced risk — the third step on its five-level scale — for severe weather. As of mid-afternoon, storms were developing along the Front Range foothills and were expected to intensify as they tracked east into a warm, unstable air mass.

Two tornado watches and one severe thunderstorm watch blanket the region, all running until 9 p.m. Mountain time. A tornado watch issued by the National Weather Service in Denver/Boulder covers Lincoln, Logan, Phillips, Sedgwick and Washington counties in the northeast, while a separate tornado watch from the Goodland, Kan., office takes in Cheyenne, Kit Carson and Yuma counties farther east-central. To the south, a severe thunderstorm watch from the Pueblo office covers Baca, Bent, Crowley, Kiowa, Otero and Prowers counties. By 3 p.m., the Goodland office had also issued severe thunderstorm warnings for storms moving through Yuma County, and special weather statements were out for Washington County and the La Junta-to-Las Animas corridor in the southeast.

Active watches across eastern Colorado

Source: National Weather Service / NOAA — active alerts as of 3:20 p.m. MDT Saturday, June 20, 2026. Times are Mountain. Check weather.gov for the latest.

(Kiowa County Press)

Storm Prediction Center: enhanced risk on the far eastern plains

In its afternoon update, the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., kept an enhanced risk of severe thunderstorms across parts of the central Plains, including Colorado's far eastern counties, with broader slight and marginal risks covering more of the plains. Forecasters said scattered severe storms were likely across the central High Plains through the evening, with storms developing over the higher terrain and spreading east into a moist, destabilizing air mass. Supercells and organized clusters are expected, the center said, with a corridor of favorable wind shear stretching from northeast Colorado into southwest Nebraska and northwest Kansas that could support isolated tornadoes. Very large hail and damaging winds — some gusts topping 75 mph — were described as the main concerns, with storms expected to grow upscale into a larger complex overnight as the wind threat shifts east.

Timing: greatest threat from late afternoon into the evening

The Goodland office expects severe storms across its entire area mainly between 3 and 10 p.m., with the main line of storms forming near the Colorado border by mid-afternoon and reaching peak intensity from about 5 to 10 p.m. That office warned the strongest storms could produce hail of 3.5 inches or larger, wind gusts approaching 80 to 90 mph, multiple tornadoes, and a wall of blowing dust along the leading edge. A second, mostly overnight wave of storms is expected to bring large hail, strong winds and a flash-flooding risk to northwest Kansas and southwest Nebraska. In the Pueblo forecast area, storms were expected to move out of the region by early evening.

Northeast plains carry the highest tornado potential

Forecasters at the Denver/Boulder office pointed to an east-west boundary draped across the Washington-Logan and Phillips-Yuma county lines as the focus for the most dangerous storms. The office described the setup near that boundary as "exceptional for Colorado standards," with high instability, deep-layer wind shear approaching 60 mph and elevated low-level spin — conditions that could allow any storm that forms to produce hail up to baseball size, wind gusts to 70 mph and a supercell tornado. Forecasters noted one limiting factor: a cap on the atmosphere that could delay storm initiation until evening, in which case very large hail would become the primary threat.

Southeast plains: hail and damaging wind the main threats

Stephen Hodanish, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pueblo, wrote in Saturday's Area Forecast Discussion that the greatest potential for severe storms sat over the Baca County region, but that the atmosphere would be "quite conducive for severe thunderstorm activity anywhere generally 20-30 miles east of the I-25 corridor." Large damaging hail and damaging winds are the primary threats there, he wrote, though a tornado could not be ruled out. Temperatures climbed into the 90s to near 100 across the plains ahead of the storms.

Fire weather and the days ahead

Away from the storm threat, red flag warnings for critical fire weather were in effect Saturday across parts of the mountains and high valleys, including interior zones in the Pueblo and Denver/Boulder areas, generally through 9 to 10 p.m. Looking ahead, forecasters expect near-daily chances of strong to severe storms over the eastern plains through much of the coming week as a favorable upslope pattern develops, while critical fire weather conditions remain possible over the higher terrain.

Residents across eastern Colorado should stay weather-aware through the evening, keep a way to receive warnings close at hand, and be ready to move quickly to a sturdy shelter if a warning is issued for their area. The latest watches, warnings and timing are available at weather.gov.