Tornado in New Mexico, May 8, 1997

Name: Tornado in New Mexico, May 8, 1997
Start: 1997-05-08T18:00
End: 1997-05-08T18:10
Location: New Mexico

May 8, 1997 · NWS MAF · 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 Lubbock radar (KLBB), 146 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:02 UTC.

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Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Lea

When: May 8, 6:00 PM MST to 6:10 PM MST
Where: Lea County, Tatum to 2 mi SE of Tatum
Rating: F0
Path length: 2.5 mi
Path width: 60 yd
Coordinates: 33.280, -103.320

A supercell moving to the southeast spawned a tornado about 2 miles north of Tatum. The tornado reportedly came straight into town, but luckily was very weak. Eyewitnesses said although there was no condensation funnel, the wall cloud above the dust tube showed significant rotation. The tornado dissipated on the southeast edge of town.

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

Every storm in New Mexico in 1997 Every state in 1997 This day in weather history The tornado archive for New Mexico, 1997 Warnings in New Mexico, May 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: 5612846.