Arizona, 2018

Tornado in Arizona, October 21, 2018

October 21, 2018 · NWS FGZ · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A shortwave trough of low pressure moved across Arizona to produce scattered storms. One storm produced a very we developed land spout tornado.

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

Open the live radar over this ground

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 FGZ wrote it up.

A shortwave trough of low pressure moved across Arizona to produce scattered storms. One storm produced a very we developed land spout tornado.

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 Flagstaff, AZ wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 21, 10:42 AM MST, 3 hours 24 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 21, 10:42 AM MST, 3 hours 24 minutes before
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In the hours before

Special weather statement, Oct 21, 8:19 AM MST, 5 hours 47 minutes before
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<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
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The radar

The Flagstaff radar (KFSX), 62 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:04 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Coconino

When
October 21, 2:06 PM MST to 2:15 PM MST
Where
Coconino County, 1.13 mi W of Meteor City to 0.57 mi E of Meteor City
Rating
EF0
Path length
1.7 mi
Path width
20 yd
Reported by
Trained Spotter
Coordinates
35.100, -110.970

A well developed landspout tornado was reported along Interstate 40 near mile marker 235.

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 Arizona in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Arizona, 2018Warnings in Arizona, October 2018

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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 790003.