F1 tornado, (Eed)Needles Arpt to Bullhead City, California, April 21, 2001

1. F040 to 72 mph

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

2. F173 to 112 mphthis tornado

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

3. F2113 to 157 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. F3158 to 206 mph

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

5. F4207 to 260 mph

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

6. F5261 to 318 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

F1

Date

April 21, 2001

Touchdown

2:35 PM CDT (19:35 UTC)

Path length

3.0 miles (4.8 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Mohave, San Bernardino and Clark counties

Touchdown point

34.900, -114.620

Lift-off point

35.120, -114.620

Record number

431

A small tornado was spotted over open terrain near the three state junction over the Colorado River. This tornado then moved into Clark County, Nevada

A small tornado was spotted over open terrain near the three state junction over the Colorado River. This tornado began in San Bernardino County, CA at 11:35 am and moved across a small part of Clark County, NV before moving into Mohave County, AZ at 11:39 am. The tornado then dissipated at 11:50 am.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

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 16:41 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.

NWS Las Vegas, NV wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Apr 21, 11:10 AM CDT, 3 hours 25 minutes earlier.

MOJAVE DESERT/SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
910 AM PDT SAT APR 21 2001

SYNOPSIS...A STRONG LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WHICH PRODUCED RAIN AND SNOW
ACROSS MUCH OF NEVADA AND SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA OVERNIGHT WILL BEGIN
TO EXIT THE REGION LATE TODAY. HOWEVER...MOST AREAS WILL REMAIN AT
RISK FOR PRECIPITATION TODAY...WITH THE GREATEST RISK OF HEAVIER
PRECIPITATION OVER EAST-CENTRAL NEVADA AND NORTHWEST ARIZONA. RAIN
AND SNOW WILL END TONIGHT AS THE STORM SYSTEM EXITS TO THE EAST.
HIGH PRESSURE WILL THEN BUILD OVER THE REGION ON SUNDAY BRINGING DRY
AND WARMER CONDITIONS.

DISCUSSION...UPPER LOW CONTINUES TO AFFECT THE REGION THIS MORNING.
PRECIPITATION OVER THE NORTHERN CWA IS BEGINNING TO SUBSIDE...IF NOT
END AS OF PRESS TIME...BUT SHOWERS WILL REMAIN A POSSIBILITY OFF AND
ON TODAY...WITH A GENERAL MODERATING TREND IN WEATHER CONDITIONS
DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS.

THE HEAVIER PRECIPITATION IS OCCURRING OVER LINCOLN COUNTY IN
FAVORABLE DIFFLUENT AREA ALOFT AND OVER NORTHWEST ARIZONA WHERE THE
MAIN BAND OF SHOWERS IS LOCATED. BASED ON CURRENT OBSERVATIONS AND
LATEST MODEL DATA...THESE AREAS WILL REMAIN FAVORED THROUGH THE
EARLY EVENING HOURS FOR SIGNIFICANT PRECIPITATION. THUS...I WILL
LEAVE THE CURRENT HIGHLIGHTS FOR THESE AREAS IN PLACE IN THE ZONE
FORECAST.

THE WINTER STORM WARNING FOR NORTHERN/CENTRAL NYE AND ESMERALDA
COUNTIES REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH NOON...AND THIS SHOULD WORKOUT
FINE AS PRECIPITATION IS ALREADY DECREASING AND SHOULD DROP-OFF
SIGNIFICANTLY DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS. WE WILL OPT TO CANCEL THE
WINTER STORM WARNING FOR THE SPRING MOUNTAINS/SHEEP RANGE FOR TODAY.
THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS IN THESE ZONES RECEIVED 6-12 INCHES OVERNIGHT
...BUT THE PROGGED MOISTURE...UPWARD FORCING AND FLOW PATTERN FOR
THIS REGION DOES NOT JUSTIFY A WINTER STORM WARNING. HOWEVER...I
WILL KEEP APPRECIABLE ACCUMULATIONS IN THE ZONE FORECAST.

OVER THE LOWER DESERTS...THE COLD CORE ALOFT SWINGS THROUGH DURING
THE DAY TODAY...AND THIS MAY BE ENOUGH TO STIMULATE AND SUPPORT THE
DEVELOPMENT OF ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS IN ADDITION TO ANY SHOWERS
THAT MAY DEVELOP.

SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF THE CWA MAY SEE SOME WRAP-AROUND MOISTURE
DURING THE EVENING HOURS...AND THEN CONDITIONS WILL IMPROVE RAPIDLY.
BENIGN WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE ON TAP BEYOND TONIGHT AS RIDGING
ALOFT PREVAILS OVER THE REGION. UPDATES WILL BE OUT SHORTLY.

.LAS...WINTER STORM WARNINGS AND SNOW ADVISORIES REMAIN IN EFFECT.
PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE (RNOWSWLAS) FOR
DETAILS.

Bull Head City (IFP), 17 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2001 tornado in CaliforniaEvery tornado in California since 1950Warnings in force in California nowThe forecast where you are

11 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.