Douglas County under tornado watch as severe storms hit Castle Rock, Lone Tree

Castle Rock and Lone Tree were under tornado warnings twice in less than a week, and Douglas County went under another tornado watch Monday as severe storms pushed through the area. A 66 mph thunderstorm wind gust near Lone Tree at the I-25 and C-470 mesonet station showed how quickly the weather turned in the county’s busiest corridor, where commuters, families and businesses depend on fast alerts and a clear plan.

The National Weather Service Denver/Boulder office issued a tornado watch for Douglas County from 2:35 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. Monday, then followed with a tornado warning at 5:58 p.m. MDT for eastern Elbert County and north-central Lincoln County. That warning cited radar-indicated rotation, three-inch hail and a storm moving east at 20 mph, underscoring how organized the system remained as it tracked across southeast Colorado.

Douglas County’s emergency alerting system has also changed. DougCoAlert launched in January 2026 and replaced CodeRED, giving residents, workers and visitors a way to receive weather and other emergency alerts by phone, text or email. The system now covers Castle Pines, Castle Rock, Franktown, Highlands Ranch, Larkspur, Lone Tree, Parker, Sedalia and unincorporated communities, making it the county’s main tool for pushing out warnings before storms intensify.

The region has seen the consequences before. On June 22, 2023, a tornado touched down just south of CO-470 in Highlands Ranch and lifted near I-25 in Lone Tree. The National Weather Service rated it EF1, with estimated peak winds of 105 mph and an 8.36-mile path, but no injuries or deaths. The track ran through the same rapidly growing stretch of Douglas County now packed with homes, office parks and traffic.

That history gives Monday’s watch extra weight. The county’s preparedness now rests on whether residents, workers and visitors have DougCoAlert turned on, know where messages will arrive and can move quickly when a warning is issued. With storms still capable of producing damaging wind, hail and rotation along the Front Range, Douglas County’s next test will be less about the forecast and more about how fast people respond when the next alert lands.