By: STORMTRACKER13 Chief Meteorologist Matt Meister
m.meister@krdo.com

Thunderstorms exploded over parts of southern Colorado late Monday afternoon and evening, producing copious amounts of large hail,  two tornadoes and a wind gusts to 72mph. A long-lived supercell thunderstorm moved across northern El Paso County between 4:30 and 7pm, dropping a widespread area of hail between 1" and 2" in diameter. The storm dropped a swath of tennis ball sized hail (2.5") 10 miles north of Rush, before dropping a tornado 10 miles northwest of Kutch, in addition to more tennis balls. A storm chaser on the cell reported a 72mh wind gusts as the storm continued to race toward Punkin Center.

Hail between 1" and 2" in diameter piled up on highway 94 in Lincoln County to a depth of 6", causing CDOT to call out the snow plows as motorists were sliding off the road late in the evening. Radar estimates of between 3" and 5.5" of rain prompted the issuance of a Flash Flood Warning through late evening. Many country roads will likely remain quite difficult through Tuesday morning east of Colorado Springs.

A trailing storm produced a large tornado near the El Paso and Elbert County line. NEWSCHANNEL13 viewer Kyle Herman snapped a picture of the twister between 7:30 and 7:45pm, looking north from near Peyton Highway and Murphy Road. Many viewers sent hail photos as well, most to the northeast of Colorado Springs. If you see severe weather, send pictures to krdoweather@gmail.com! More severe thunderstorms are possible Tuesday afternoon and evening in the same areas.