Rare 'Particularly Dangerous Situation' Tornado Watch Issued For Northeast Colorado

DENVER (CBS4) - The National Weather Service in Boulder has issued a rare Tornado Watch for parts of extreme northeast and east-central Colorado. It's called a 'PDS' Tornado Watch which means Particularly Dangerous Situation.

Communities on alert Wednesday night for severe thunderstorms capable of producing large tornadoes include Sterling, Akron, Fort Morgan, Julesburg, Burlington, Yuma and Wray. The watch is in effect until 1 a.m. Mountain Time on Thursday.

PDS Tornado Watches are issued when there is higher than normal confidence in the possibility of tornadoes, and especially large and destructive ones. According to the National Weather Service the state of Colorado has only seen 10 PDS Tornado Watches issued since 1993. The last one was issued in 2017. Today's watch will become the eleventh PDS Tornado Watch in state history.

As of 5 p.m. on Wednesday a total of 17 tornadoes have been reported in northwest Kansas and southwest Nebraska. At least one was described as large and destructive near the town of Herndon.