Tornadoes · United States · Arizona · 2021

Unrated tornado, Sabino, Arizona, July 2, 2021

This Unrated tornado ran 0.6 miles across Pima County on July 2, 2021, touching down at 2:57 PM MST and reaching 10 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. EF065 to 85 mph

    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. Unratedthis tornado

    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.

The record

Rating
Unrated
Date
July 2, 2021
Touchdown
2:57 PM MST (21:57 UTC)
Lifted
3:03 PM MST (22:03 UTC)
On the ground
6 minutes
Path length
0.6 miles (0.9 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Pima County
Touchdown point
32.309, -110.844
Lift-off point
32.309, -110.855
Record number
2107021557-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Scattered thunderstorms moved west across southeast Arizona. Storms produced flash flooding and a swath of damaging winds across the Tucson Metro area, and a landspout was also observed. A swift water rescue with two injuries occurred in Cornfield Canyon in western Cochise County.

Photo showed a landspout in northeast Tucson around Skyline and Kolb. No damage occurred.

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

The warnings

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

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:48 UTC22:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWC
21:53 UTC01:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningTWC
22:01 UTC22:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWC
22:24 UTC01:30 UTCFlash Flood WarningTWC
22:25 UTC00:00 UTCDust Storm WarningTWC
22:35 UTC23:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWC
00:35 UTC01:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWC
01:16 UTC02:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWC
02:13 UTC03:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWC
02:34 UTC04:30 UTCFlood AdvisoryTWC

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:48 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.

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Tuscon, AZ (KTUS), 12:00Z

10.0 hours before the tornado, 16 km from the path. July 2, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tuscon, AZ at 12:00Z on 2021-07-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 385 joules per kilogram, CIN -127, lifted condensation level 1652 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Tuscon, AZ at 12:00Z on 2021-07-02The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 37 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 13 knots.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
385 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-127 J/kg
Surface CAPE
675 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1652 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
6 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
37 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
75 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
7.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Tuscon, AZ (KTUS), 00:00Z

2.0 hours after it, 16 km from the path. July 3, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tuscon, AZ at 00:00Z on 2021-07-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 142 joules per kilogram, CIN -202, lifted condensation level 2019 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Tuscon, AZ at 00:00Z on 2021-07-03The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 20 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 2 knots.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
142 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-202 J/kg
Surface CAPE
932 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2019 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
2 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
6 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
20 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
34 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Davis-Monthan Afb (DMA), 16 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
19:58 UTC93.458340° 5 kt1014.2
20:58 UTC95.459330° 3 kt1013.5
21:58 UTC8963.520° 25 kt321013.2
22:40 UTC8662.6340° 15 kt201013.2VCTS
22:52 UTC82.462.6290° 12 kt1013.9VCTS
22:58 UTC81.762.2290° 10 kt1013.9VCTS

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

The radar

The Tucson radar (KEMX), 51 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:55 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.

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
21:49 UTCHEAVY RAIN 2.48 N TucsonPima, AZSUSTAINED WINDS OF 41PMH WITH GUSTS UP TO 50MPH ESTIMATED; RAINFALL RATES OF 2.4 IN/HR.
22:00 UTCHEAVY RAIN 1.48 Nne TucsonPima, AZ1.4 INCHES IN 30 MINUTES.
22:38 UTCTSTM WND DMG7 Nnw TucsonPima, AZELECTRICAL POWER LINE DOWN BLOCKING ROAD NEAR 1ST AVE AND WETMORE ROAD. VEHICLE TRAVEL RESTRICTED TO ONE LANE.
22:39 UTCTSTM WND DMG7 Nnw TucsonPima, AZTWEET OF BLOWN DOWN TREE ON NORTH BOUND LANE OF RIVER ROAD AND RIVER ROAD.
22:50 UTCHEAVY RAIN 1.028 Wnw TucsonPima, AZESTIMATED 1.02 INCH IN 30 MINUTES.
23:00 UTCFLASH FLOOD8 Nne TucsonPima, AZVENTANA CANYON WASH IS FLOWING AND BLOCKING VEHICLE TRAVEL ON SNYDER ROAD. WATER LEVEL IS 1 FOOT DEEP.
23:16 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Ssw Oro ValleyPima, AZTWEETER POST SHOWING A SHED BLOWN INTO A TRAFFIC LIGHT ON MAGEE ROAD AND LA CANADA DRIVE.
23:21 UTCTSTM WND DMG7 Nnw TucsonPima, AZLARGE TREE KNOCKED DOWN IN APARTMENT COMPLEX.
23:31 UTCFLASH FLOOD10 Ne Three PointsPima, AZTWEETER POST OF TUCSON WASH FLOWING WITH 15 INCHES DEEP OVER THE ROAD.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2021 tornado in ArizonaEvery tornado in Arizona since 1950Warnings in force in Arizona nowThe forecast where you are

What this means

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.

Sources

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