New Mexico, 2001

Tornado in New Mexico, June 19, 2001

June 19, 2001 · NWS EPZ · 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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS El Paso, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 19, 1:33 PM MST, 1 hour 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jun 19, 1:33 PM MST, 1 hour 2 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE EL PASO TX/SANTA TERESA NM
233 PM MDT TUE JUN 19 2001

SYNOPSIS...
OUR SUMMER LIKE PATTERN WILL CONTINUE FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS.
UPPER LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE WILL KEEP OUR SKIES MOSTLY CLEAR AND OUR
WINDS GENERALLY LIGHT...BUT A SOUTHEASTERLY SURFACE FLOW WILL KEEP
ENOUGH MOISTURE MOVING INTO THE REGION TO CONTINUE OUR SLIGHT CHANCE
FOR AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS.  ON THURSDAY AN EASTERLY
PUSH WILL SLIDE ACROSS THE REGION...THAT WILL INCREASE OUR CHANCES
FOR THUNDERSTORMS AND DECREASE OUR TEMPERATURES A BIT.  BY THE
WEEKEND, THOUGH, OUR TEMPERATURES WILL REBOUND BACK TO NORMAL LEVELS
WITH ONLY A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR THUNDERSTORMS.

DISCUSSION...
AND THE BEAT GOES ON. UPPER LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE WILL REMAIN IN
CONTROL OF OUR WEATHER THROUGH THE WEEKEND...WHILE AT THE
SURFACE...A SOUTHEASTERLY FLOW WILL CONTINUE TO FUNNEL MOISTURE INTO
OUR AREA.  THIS WILL CONTINUE OUR WARM TEMPERATURES AND OUR CHANCES
FOR AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS.  ON THURSDAY AFTERNOON AN
EAST PUSH/COOL FRONT WILL SLIDE ACROSS THE REGION.  THIS WILL HELP
COOL OUR AFTERNOON HIGHS A FEW DEGREES AND IT WILL BRING IN SOME
EXTRA MOISTURE WHICH WILL INCREASE OUR CHANCES FOR THOSE AFTERNOON
AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS.  BY THE WEEKEND OUR TEMPERATURES WILL
REBOUND...BUT THERE STILL WILL BE JUST ENOUGH MOISTURE TO KEEP A
MENTION IN THE FORECAST FOR (YES YOU GUESSED IT) AFTERNOON AND
EVENING THUNDERSTORMS.

EL PASO               UU  70/ 98/ 69/ 97/ 68  21213
LAS CRUCES            UU  61/ 95/ 60/ 94/ 59  21213
ALAMOGORDO            UU  65/ 96/ 64/ 95/ 63  21213
CLOUDCROFT            UU  47/ 74/ 46/ 73/ 45  12123
TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES UU  65/ 96/ 64/ 95/ 63  21213
SILVER CITY           UU  56/ 88/ 55/ 87/ 54  12123
DEMING                UU  60/ 96/ 59/ 95/ 58  21213
LORDSBURG             UU  60/ 97/ 59/ 96/ 58  21213
SIERRA BLANCA         UU  66/ 95/ 65/ 94/ 64  21213

.ELP...NONE

15 BRICE

N

The radar

The El Paso radar (KEPZ), 50 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:35 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Dona Ana

When
June 19, 2:35 PM MST to 2:50 PM MST
Where
Dona Ana County, 2 mi E of Las Cruces
Rating
F0
Path length
0.3 mi
Path width
20 yd
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
32.317, -106.750

A weak tornado (landspout), which began as a dust devil that eventually moved under a developing thunderstorm, stayed on the ground for 15 minutes just east of Las Cruces. It remained over open country but was observed by thousands. Unrelated wind damage from 45 mph thunderstorm outflow elsewhere in the city was falsely attributed to this landspout.

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 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for New Mexico, 2001Warnings in New Mexico, June 2001

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: 5254681.