EF0 tornado, Mc Queen to Mesa, Arizona, March 1, 2014

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mph

   Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

4. EF3136 to 165 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 mph

   Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

7. Unrated

   The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

Rating

EF0

Date

March 1, 2014

Touchdown

12:40 PM MST (19:40 UTC)

Lifted

12:45 PM MST (19:45 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

0.5 miles (0.7 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$50,000

County

Maricopa County

Touchdown point

33.418, -111.854

Lift-off point

33.418, -111.846

Record number

1403011340-01

A vigorous upper level low pressure system moved out of the eastern Pacific and into Arizona on the first weekend of March, bringing locally heavy rainfall and isolated severe thunderstorms to south central Arizona. During the day on Saturday, March 1st, widespread moderate to heavy rain fell; many locations across the central deserts including the Greater Phoenix area picked up amounts in excess of one inch. The rain led to flooding of area roads and washes and prompted the issuance of several Urban and Small Stream Flood Advisories. In addition, isolated severe thunderstorms developed, affecting portions of the greater Phoenix area. The storms produced tree damage, generated small to moderate hail and even produced a weak tornado which briefly touched down in east Mesa.

A strong upper level low pressure system moved slowly east across Arizona on Saturday March 1st, and it led to the formation of isolated severe thunderstorms across the greater Phoenix area. Due to strong wind shear and modest instability, a small EF0 tornado developed in east Mesa. The tornado had a very short track, less than one mile, and touched down near Extension road and Main Street in the Palm Cove apartment complex. The tornado knocked down a number of large trees, ripped spanish roofing tiles off of a number of apartment units, and sent an empty hot tub flying 1300 feet across the apartment complex. Several eyewitnesses saw the tornado and the flying hot tub. Fortunately, no injuries were reported as a result of the tornado.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 16:28 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

Mesa/Falcon Field (FFZ), 12 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Phoenix radar (KIWA), 22 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:40 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2014 tornado in ArizonaEvery tornado in Arizona since 1950Warnings in force in Arizona nowThe forecast where you are

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.