New Mexico, 1997

Tornado in New Mexico, December 2, 1997

December 2, 1997 · NWS ABQ · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

The radar

The Holloman AFB radar (KHDX), 160 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:25 UTC.

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Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Chaves

When
December 2, 3:25 PM MST
Where
Chaves County, 4 mi W of Hagerman
Rating
F0
Path length
0.1 mi
Path width
50 yd
Coordinates
33.120, -104.400

A thunderstorm which developed along a cold front moving into south central Chaves County produced a small, brief tornado. The tornado formed in an environment of northeast surface winds and moderate southwest winds aloft. This is only the second recorded tornado for December in New Mexico. Previously a tornado was reported December 26, 1966 near Pojoaque in Santa Fe County.

What these are

Tornado
A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in New Mexico in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for New Mexico, 1997Warnings in New Mexico, December 1997

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5625075.