New Mexico, 2023

Tornado in New Mexico, October 1, 2023

October 1, 2023 · NWS ABQ · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Continued moist southerly flow across eastern NM ahead of a deep storm system resulted in the development of more scattered showers and storms across eastern NM. Some of these storms became severe, with one of these storms producing a tornado near Sapello in northwest San Miguel County.

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
$100,000
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.

Continued moist southerly flow across eastern NM ahead of a deep storm system resulted in the development of more scattered showers and storms across eastern NM. Some of these storms became severe, with one of these storms producing a tornado near Sapello in northwest San Miguel County.

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 Oct 1, 4:51 PM MST, 21 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 1, 4:51 PM MST, 21 minutes before
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In the hours before

Special weather statement, Oct 1, 3:29 PM MST, 1 hour 43 minutes before
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Special weather statement, Oct 1, 3:33 PM MST, 1 hour 39 minutes before
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Special weather statement, Oct 1, 3:41 PM MST, 1 hour 31 minutes before
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Special weather statement, Oct 1, 4:04 PM MST, 1 hour 8 minutes before
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Special weather statement, Oct 1, 4:42 PM MST, 30 minutes before
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The radar

The Albuquerque radar (KABX), 158 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:13 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, San Miguel

When
October 1, 5:12 PM MST to 5:18 PM MST
Where
San Miguel County, 0.89 mi SE of Manuelitas to 1.68 mi E of Manuelitas
Rating
EF0
Path length
1.32 mi
Path width
50 yd
Property damage
$100,000
Reported by
Emergency Manager
Coordinates
35.790, -105.270

Damage assessment conducted by San Miguel Emergency Management discovered damage to a roof of one house, an overturned chicken coop near the damaged house, and power poles downed between Escondido Lane and Wyatt Dr. intersecting County Road A1.

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 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for New Mexico, 2023Warnings in New Mexico, October 2023

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: 1129364.