Funnel Cloud, Colfax
- When
- May 11, 1:20 PM MST
- Where
- Colfax County, Cimarron
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 36.606, -104.647 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Funnel Cloud in New Mexico, May 11, 2001
Small funnel cloud reported southeast of Cimarron.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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
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 happened
The episode as NWS ABQ wrote it up.
Small funnel cloud reported southeast of Cimarron.
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 Albuquerque, NM wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 11, 10:32 AM MST, 2 hours 48 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 11, 10:32 AM MST, 2 hours 48 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM 1132 AM MDT FRI MAY 11 2001 UPDATED TO EXPAND HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK SEVERE RISK AREA...MOSTLY IN LINE WITH EXPANDED SPC DAY1 OUTLOOK. NOT SURE FAR NE NM WILL BE A PROBLEM AREA MOST OR ALL OF THE AFTERNOON...SHOULD STAY TO W OF THAT AREA...PERHAPS DURING THE EVENING IF COOLER MORE STABLE AIRMASS DOESN'T DEEPEN TOO MUCH THAT AREA. MOST OTHER AREAS OF E LOOK REASONABLY FAVORABLE FOR ISOLATED TO A FEW SEVERE STORMS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...BUT WINDS ALOFT NOT MUCH TO SPEAK OF. MOSTLY INSTABILITY...DECENT MID LVL LAPSE RATES...SLIGHT TO MODERATE MOISTURE INCREASE...SOME UPSLOPE COMPONENT TO LOW LEVEL FLOW AND SOME7 HEATING COMBINED WITH THE WEAK NW FLOW REGIME TO HELP WITH STORM GENERATION. NO BIG CHANGES TO GOING FORECAST. 43 .ABQ...NONE.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, May 11, 9:13 AM MST, 4 hours 7 minutes before
NMZ001>021-026-120400- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTH AND CENTRAL NEW MEXICO NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBUQUERQUE NM 1013 AM MDT FRI MAY 11 2001 NORTH AND CENTRAL NEW MEXICO SEVERE THUNDERSTORM THREAT...A SLIGHT RISK EXISTS FOR THUNDERSTORMS TO BECOME SEVERE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING OVER MUCH OF EASTERN AND A SMALL PART OF CENTRAL NEW MEXICO. WEATHER SYNOPSIS...AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL MOVE OVER NORTHEAST NEW MEXICO LATE TODAY. LOW LEVEL WINDS WILL DEVELOP MORE OF AN UPSLOPE COMPONENT THIS AFTERNOON AND BRING INCREASING MOISTURE BEHIND A WEAK COLD FRONT MOVING SLOWLY SOUTHWARD ACROSS THE EASTERN PLAINS. IN ADDITION THE AIRMASS WILL BECOME MORE UNSTABLE ACROSS THE EAST. THE COMBINATION OF THESE FACTORS WILL BE ENOUGH TO GENERATE A FEW STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS BY MID TO LATE AFTERNOON. THE MAIN THREAT WILL BE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE AREAS BELOW BETWEEN ABOUT 3 AND 10 PM MDT. COUNTIES IN EASTERN NEW MEXICO WHERE SKYWARN SPOTTERS MAY BE REQUIRED... UNION... HARDING... QUAY... CURRY... ROOSEVELT... COLFAX... MORA... SAN MIGUEL... GUADALUPE... DE BACA... CHAVES... COUNTIES IN CENTRAL NEW MEXICO WHERE SKYWARN SPOTTERS MAY BE REQUIRED... TORRANCE... LINCOLN... COUNTIES IN WESTERN AND NORTHERN NEW MEXICO WHERE SKYWARN SPOTTERS MAY BE REQUIRED... NONE THIS OUTLOOK PRODUCT IS FOR PLANNING PURPOSES TO IDENTIFY POTENTIAL HAZARDOUS OR LIFE THREATENING WEATHER. IT IS NOT INTENDED TO REPLACE SPECIFIC STATEMENTS OR WARNINGS RELATED TO FLASH FLOODS AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. THIS OUTLOOK PERTAINS TO NORTHERN AND CENTRAL NEW MEXICO. FOR FAR SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO USE PRODUCT WWUS84 KMAF. FOR SOUTHCENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST NEW MEXICO USE PRODUCT WWUS84 KEPZ.
The radar
The Pueblo radar (KPUX), 210 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:22 UTC.
Event by event
1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Funnel Cloud
- A rotating column of cloud extending from a thunderstorm that did not reach the ground.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Hail in Texas, May 11 to 12, 2001
- Flooding in Iowa, May 11 to 14, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Tennessee, May 11, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Oklahoma, May 11, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Wind in Georgia, May 11 to 12, 2001
- Wildfire in California, May 11, 2001
- Hail in Texas, May 11, 2001
- Flood and Hail in Oklahoma, May 11, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Texas, May 11, 2001
- Hail in Kansas, May 11, 2001
- Flooding in Missouri, May 11 to 13, 2001
- Damaging Winds in Tennessee, May 11, 2001
More
Every storm in New Mexico in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, May 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: 5244416.