Tornado touches down above 7,000 feet in southern Colorado

A rare high-elevation tornado touched down in Colorado's Custer County on Wednesday. It happened near Westcliffe, according to the National Weather Service.  

The Custer County Sheriff's Office shared a photo showing the dark funnel cloud off in the distance. They said the National Weather Service sent an alert about the tornado warning that was ordered to cellphones in the area. The funnel was located south of Westcliffe, close to the West Mountain Valley subdivision.

"Deputies and fire fighters have searched the area for damage. We report no injuries. The only damage is to three power poles. Sangre Electric is on scene," the sheriff's office wrote in a Facebook post.

Westcliffe, in southern Colorado, sits at an elevation of 7,888 feet and is flanked by the Wet Mountain Range to the east and the Sangre de Cristo mountains to the west.

Tornadoes typically occur in Colorado on the Eastern Plains. It's rare for them to happen at high altitudes in the high country and foothills.

Rick Sandoval lives and works on Wolf Springs Ranch in Huerfano County immediately to the south.

"It was really special to be right under it and watch it connect with the ground. I've watched them form in Kansas. It was a rare spectacle at over 8,000 feet elevation in the mountains," he told CBS News Colorado.

He said he hadn't found any serious damage to his property after the tornado dissipated.

"Nothing bad," he said. "We didn't have cattle in that pasture. I think there might have been some damage over the hill on the other side of our property. I saw several emergency vehicles over there when I went out to check fences."