DENVER -- At least two tornadoes touched down in Colorado on Monday, causing moderate damage to a barn and an airplane hangar.

The larger tornado touched down near Elbert, about 40 miles southeast of Denver. The other was reported about five miles southwest of Fort Collins or 50 miles north of Denver.

First Tornado

The Elbert-area tornado "got really huge," said Cathy Wilson, who works at an auto parts store in Elizabeth, about 10 miles north of Elbert.

"There was definitely a lot of thunder, lightning and rain here for a while. I know when we were watching it, it was about a mile wide, it seemed, and would get wider, then get narrower," she said.

Dawn Key, who lives five miles south of Elizabeth, said she saw two tornadoes, one large and cone-shaped, the other a thin one that seemed to repeatedly touch down and pull back up.

"It shot back down amazingly fast," she said.

Elbert County Sheriff's Lt. Michelle Mattive said she believed there was only one tornado, but its up-and-down movements gave the appearance of two.

"It looks like one that's just been forming and coming up and then back down," she said.

She said the tornado may have touched down in or near subdivisions in Elbert.

Sheri Coleridge, who lives about seven miles west of Elbert, said she could see the tornado from her home.

"It was just a huge funnel coming out of the sky down to the ground. It was very broad," she said. "It wasn't the ropy kind of tornado that you see. It was very massive."

Drew Yancey, who works at a pizza restaurant in Elizabeth, said the tornado appeared to be on the ground for 15 or 20 minutes.

He said workers at a strip mall where the restaurant is located stopped to watch, and "Everyone was just amazed by it."

"This thing was huge," said June Turner, who watched the tornado as it touched down.

"It's the biggest tornado I've ever seen," said Jacob Miracle who was watching the tornado.

"It was probably a quarter-mile across. It was pretty large but it was about 3 to 4 miles south of Elizabeth," said Chief Michael Phibbs of the Elizabeth Police Department.

"It was on the ground for about 10 or 15 minutes," said Larry Green, who lives 1 mile east of Elizabeth. He said it "went up and came back down again."

"We've just been watching constant tornadoes," said Alexis Grace, who lives near Franktown. "So far we haven't seen any damage, just a lot of debris."

Phil Brown's barn ended up in the path of the tornado. It was nearly leveled by the storm.

"I'm missing one goat and the barn collapsed on a steer but the fire department cut it out so it's alright," Brown explained.

Viewers also reported golf ball and soft ball-sized hail. Douglas County Sheriff's spokeswoman Cocha Heyden said they have received no reports of damage from the tornado.

Heyden said they've received reports of a tornado touched down near Heidemann Road near Elbert County.

"It's pretty dark over there. Rain and hail," Heyden said.

Larimer County Funnel Clouds

Severe weather was also reported north of the Denver metro area.

At 2:04 p.m. the National Weather Service reported a tornado 3 miles north of Masonville in Larimer County. At 2:20 p.m., radar indicated a second funnel near Horsetooth Reservoir in Larimer County, moving northeast at 20 mph.

"It was looking pretty apocalyptic for awhile," said Johnny Hart in Fort Collins. He was on the CSU campus as a severe storm cell moved through, dropping hail "pretty hard." He said it was the size of BB's.

"We had pea-sized hail from the storm," said Joanelle, who lives on the west side of Fort Collins.

Police in Fort Collins said they had no firsthand knowledge of a tornado nearby but said heavy rain caused some street flooding.

Tornado Safety

The safest place to be during a tornado is in a basement. Get under a workbench or other piece of sturdy furniture. If no basement is available, seek shelter on the lowest floor of the building in an interior hallway or room such as a closet. Use blankets or pillows to cover your body and always stay away from windows.

If in mobile homes or vehicles, evacuate them and get inside a substantial shelter. If no safe shelter is available, lie flat in the nearest ditch or other low spot and cover your head with your hands.

What About The Rest Of The Week?

Although we have been stuck in this stormy rut for awhile now, it finally appears that a quieter weather pattern will build over the state.

For the past two weeks, we have been trapped between the cool dry air to our north and the warm moist air to our south. This has contributed to our stormy weather pattern. By the middle of the week temperatures will finally warm into the 80s which we have yet to hit so far this June. Thunderstorms will be very hard to come by as a drier airmass will cover the state.

A cold front will slide through toward the end of the week and temperatures will cool into the upper 70s and low 80s on Thursday. We'll also see a return of the rain toward the end of the week as another unstable air mass moves into the region.

What is the weekend looking like? Partly cloudy with highs in the mid to upper 80s.

Did you know that only 2 percent of reported severe hail occurs between the hours of 11 p.m. and 10 a.m.? The next time it's hailing at your house be sure to spout this interesting weather tidbit and you'll be the envy of all your friends! Obviously it hasn't been an average June in regards to severe weather as we have seen 8 days in a row of severe weather! The average number of days that Denver sees hail in June is only 1.2 days!

While this June has been a little crazy, it looks like it's going to calm down briefly. However, it is June and by the end of the week, severe weather could return.

Weather Interns Meghan Dwyer and Matt Jones contributed to this report.