Tornadoes · United States · Idaho · 2019
EF0 tornado, Riverside, Idaho, May 26, 2019
This EF0 tornado ran 1.8 miles across Bingham County on May 26, 2019, touching down at 1:57 PM MDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $1,000 of property damage.
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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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.
The record
- Rating
- EF0
- Date
- May 26, 2019
- Touchdown
- 1:57 PM MDT (19:57 UTC)
- Lifted
- 2:12 PM MDT (20:12 UTC)
- On the ground
- 15 minutes
- Path length
- 1.8 miles (2.9 km)
- Path width
- 100 yards (91 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $1,000
- County
- Bingham County
- Touchdown point
- 43.171, -112.450
- Lift-off point
- 43.197, -112.450
- Record number
- 1905261357-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Thunderstorm occurred throughout the day on the 26th with one tornado occurring. Large hail was also reported.
An EF0 tornado touched down 2 miles south of Riverside nd moved north for 1.8 miles crossing the Snake River before dissipating just south os W 100 S (Thomas Road) and between S 275 W and S 670 W just south of Riverside. Damage consisted of a mix of several young and mature cottonwood trees that were wither snapped or uprooted on both private and BLM land . One downed live tree measured a foot in diameter. Another much larger downed tree was found with a diameter close to two feet. Minor damage was reported to a greenhouse. Maximum wind speeds were estimated at 80 to 85 mph with path width of 50-100 yards. It was on the ground for 1.8 miles.
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.
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 16:27 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.
Salt Lake City I, UT (KSLC), 12:00Z
8.0 hours before the tornado, 271 km from the path. May 26, 2019.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 30 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -238 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 22 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1837 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 45 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 12 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 71 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 114 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.8 K/km
Salt Lake City I, UT (KSLC), 00:00Z
4.0 hours after it, 271 km from the path. May 27, 2019.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -34 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 129 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 3129 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 17 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 8 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 36 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 62 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 9.8 K/km
The radar
The Pocatello radar (KSFX), 21 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:57 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19:15 UTC | HAIL 1 | Aberdeen | Bingham, ID | TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR. PHOTO SENT IN ON SOCIAL MEDIA. |
| 19:42 UTC | HAIL 0.25 | 5 Sse Pocatello | Bannock, ID | |
| 19:57 UTC | TORNADO | 4 Wsw Blackfoot | Bingham, ID | NWS STORM SURVEY CONFIRMS AN EF-0 TORNADO. THE DURATION WAS APPROXIMATELY 15 MINUTES WITH A PATH LENGTH OF APPROXIMATELY 1.8 MILES. THE TORNADO FORMED NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF S 700 W AND WILLIE RD. ESTIMATED WIND SPEEDS |
| 20:00 UTC | FUNNEL CLOUD | Aberdeen | Bingham, ID | |
| 20:22 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 S Moreland | Bingham, ID | CORRECTS PREVIOUS TSTM WND DMG REPORT FROM 1 S MORELAND. TREE LIMB DAMAGE WITH ADDITIONAL DAMAGE TO GREEN HOUSE. RIPPED THE COVER OFF & TWISTED THE POLES AND CONNECTIONS. ONE SIDE FLATTENED. PEA SIZE HAIL ACCOMPANIED. |
| 20:22 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 1 S Moreland | Bingham, ID | TREE LIMB DAMAGE WITH PEA SIZE HAIL. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2019 tornado in IdahoEvery tornado in Idaho since 1950Warnings in force in Idaho nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of May 26, 2019
37 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 26 | 1:15 AM CDT | EF0 | McIntosh, OK | 0.2 | 75 | |||
| May 26 | 1:23 AM CDT | EF1 | Champaign, IL | 0.9 | 250 | |||
| May 26 | 1:27 AM CDT | EF1 | Champaign, IL | 0.8 | 250 | |||
| May 26 | 1:35 AM CDT | EF1 | Champaign, IL | 1.0 | 250 | |||
| May 26 | 1:44 AM CDT | EF0 | Mayes, OK | 3.2 | 300 | |||
| May 26 | 2:30 AM CDT | EF0 | Washington, AR | 1.5 | 100 | |||
| May 26 | 2:38 PM MDT | Unrated | Prowers, CO | 0.3 | 20 | |||
| May 26 | 2:54 PM MDT | Unrated | Bent, CO | 0.3 | 20 | |||
| May 26 | 4:36 PM CDT | EF0 | Thomas, KS | 1.0 | 100 | $42,000 | ||
| May 26 | 4:10 PM MDT | Unrated | Kiowa, CO | 0.3 | 20 | |||
| May 26 | 4:38 PM MDT | EF0 | Weld, CO | 0.0 | 25 | |||
| May 26 | 4:53 PM MDT | EF0 | Weld, CO | 0.0 | 25 | |||
| May 26 | 4:55 PM MDT | EF0 | Union, NM | 21.7 | 75 | |||
| May 26 | 5:27 PM MDT | EF0 | Weld, CO | 0.0 | 25 | |||
| May 26 | 5:37 PM MDT | EF0 | Adams, CO | 0.0 | 25 | |||
| May 26 | 5:50 PM MDT | EF0 | Union, NM | 2.6 | 50 | |||
| May 26 | 5:58 PM MDT | EF0 | Lincoln, CO | 0.0 | 50 | |||
| May 26 | 6:04 PM MDT | EF0 | Chaves, NM | 2.4 | 50 | |||
| May 26 | 7:21 PM CDT | EF1 | Franklin, NE | 1.9 | 500 | $125,000 | ||
| May 26 | 6:25 PM MDT | EF0 | Roosevelt, NM | 0.8 | 50 | |||
| May 26 | 7:25 PM CDT | EF0 | Oldham, TX | 0.3 | 50 | |||
| May 26 | 8:02 PM CDT | EF0 | Hartley, TX | 2.0 | 50 | |||
| May 26 | 8:14 PM CDT | EF0 | Hartley, TX | 5.2 | 75 | |||
| May 26 | 7:20 PM MDT | EF2 | Roosevelt, NM | 9.5 | 200 | $2.0 million | ||
| May 26 | 7:57 PM MDT | EF0 | Roosevelt, NM | 2.1 | 50 | |||
| May 26 | 9:11 PM CDT | EF0 | Bailey, TX | 5.0 | 50 | $50,000 | ||
| May 26 | 9:22 PM CDT | EF0 | Washington, KS | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| May 26 | 9:56 PM CDT | EF2 | Lamb, TX | 8.0 | 100 | $150,000 | ||
| May 26 | 10:26 PM CDT | EF0 | Castro, TX | 12.8 | 100 | $100,000 | ||
| May 26 | 10:49 PM CDT | EF1 | Gray, KS | 0.7 | 25 | $60,000 | ||
| May 26 | 10:51 PM CDT | EF1 | Ford, KS | 1.9 | 25 | |||
| May 26 | 10:52 PM CDT | EF1 | Ford, KS | 1.8 | 25 | |||
| May 26 | 11:07 PM CDT | EF1 | Ford, KS | 3.1 | 50 | |||
| May 26 | 11:14 PM CDT | EF0 | Hodgeman, KS | 1.7 | 25 | |||
| May 26 | 11:28 PM CDT | EF1 | Hodgeman, KS | 1.3 | 25 | $60,000 | ||
| May 26 | 12:00 AM CDT | EF1 | Pratt, KS | 8.9 | 100 | |||
| May 26 | 12:25 AM CDT | EF0 | Oldham, TX | 1.5 | 50 |
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.