Tornadoes · United States · Idaho · 2019

EF0 tornado, Hammett, Idaho, May 27, 2019

Name: EF0 tornado, Hammett, Idaho, May 27, 2019
Start: 2019-05-27T21:40:00.000Z
End: 2019-05-27T21:55:00.000Z
Location: Hammett, Idaho

This EF0 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Elmore County on May 27, 2019, touching down at 3:40 PM MDT 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.

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 27, 2019
Touchdown: 3:40 PM MDT (21:40 UTC)
Lifted: 3:55 PM MDT (21:55 UTC)
On the ground: 15 minutes
Path length: 0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Path width: 10 yards (9 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
County: Elmore County
Touchdown point: 43.120, -115.410
Lift-off point: 43.113, -115.407
Record number: 1905271540-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A persistent upper low continued to produce showers and thunderstorms across the area including a tornado in the Treasure Valley.

A photo of a tornado was posted on social media . The location is based on an interview with the spotter and the associated radar couplet.

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

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Boise, ID wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at May 27, 2:03 PM MDT, 1 hour 37 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 27, 2:03 PM MDT, 1 hour 37 minutes before

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Boise ID
203 PM MDT Mon May 27 2019

.SHORT TERM...Tonight through Thursday...Convection will continue
through the period, with showers and afternoon-evening
thunderstorms each day. An upper low will support most of the
convection in southwest Idaho through this evening. The low will
move east of our area as another low off the PacNW coast develops
and moves into the northwest U.S. Wednesday through Thursday. The
storms will be capable of producing small hail, gusty winds, and
heavy rain. Temperatures will be near normal.

.LONG TERM...Thursday night through Monday...An active pattern
remains for the first part of the period as the area sits under a
split upper level flow. Ridging to our north and trough to our
south will dominate through the start of next week. Afternoon
showers and thunderstorms can be expected during this time.
Starting Monday, a drier zonal flow pushes into the area.
Temperatures sit close to normal for this time of year.

&&

.AVIATION...Showers will increase throughout the rest of the
afternoon becoming widespread later in the day. Scattered
thunderstorms are expected with some capable of heavy rainfall,
strong gusts, and small hail. Surface winds, northwest 5-10kts
with gusts 25-35kts. Winds aloft to 10k feet MSL, north 25-30kts.

&&

.BOI WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
ID...None.
OR...None.

&&

www.weather.gov/Boise
www.facebook.com/NWSBoise
www.twitter.com/NWSBoise

SHORT TERM...BW
LONG TERM....JC/JC
AVIATION.....JC

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 27, 1:53 PM MDT, 1 hour 47 minutes before

Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Boise ID
153 PM MDT Mon May 27 2019

IDZ013-028-272045-
Boise Mountains ID-Camas Prairie ID-
153 PM MDT Mon May 27 2019

...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR EAST CENTRAL ELMORE AND WEST
CENTRAL CAMAS COUNTIES UNTIL 245 PM MDT...

At 153 PM MDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm 7
miles northwest of Corral, or 16 miles west of Fairfield, moving west
at 10 mph.

Pea size hail and wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph will be possible with
this storm.

This strong thunderstorm will be near...
  Pine, Anderson Ranch Reservoir and Cat Creek Summit around 240 PM
  MDT.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Frequent cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm.
Lightning can strike 10 miles away from a thunderstorm. Seek a safe
shelter inside a building or vehicle.

When safe to do so, please relay storm reports to the National
Weather Service in Boise via local law enforcement, or National
Weather Service Boise Facebook and Twitter accounts.

&&

LAT...LON 4354 11505 4337 11496 4323 11528 4349 11544
TIME...MOT...LOC 1953Z 069DEG 7KT 4344 11511

JC

The surface observations

Mountain Home Afb (MUO), 39 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Boise radar (KCBX), 79 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:37 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2019 tornado in Idaho Every tornado in Idaho since 1950 Warnings in force in Idaho now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 27, 2019

62 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 27	1:10 AM CDT	EF0	Potter, TX	1.6	50
May 27	1:13 AM CDT	EF0	Mitchell, KS	0.0	25			$25,000
May 27	12:07 PM CDT	EF0	Freeborn, MN	0.6	50
May 27	12:23 PM CDT	EF1	Floyd, IA	9.8	105			$625,000
May 27	1:10 PM CDT	EF0	Chickasaw, IA	4.1	25			$35,000
May 27	1:23 PM CDT	EF0	Fillmore, MN	0.2	25			$15,000
May 27	1:25 PM CDT	EF1	Howard, IA	12.6	95			$1.3 million
May 27	1:25 PM CDT	EF3	Van Buren, IA	7.3	100
May 27	1:29 PM CDT	EF0	Fillmore, MN	0.2	15			$5,000
May 27	1:36 PM CDT	EF1	Lee, IA	0.5	20
May 27	1:40 PM CDT	EF0	Fillmore, MN	0.2	25			$20,000
May 27	1:47 PM CDT	EF0	Kendall, IL	1.0	30
May 27	1:49 PM CDT	EF0	Howard, IA to MN	6.2	30			$202,000
May 27	2:03 PM CDT	EF0	Des Moines, IA	0.1	20
May 27	2:04 PM CDT	EF0	Will, IL	3.2	300
May 27	3:15 PM CDT	EF0	Knox, IL	0.1	10
May 27	3:02 PM MDT	EF0	Morgan, CO	0.0	25
May 27	3:22 PM MDT	EF0	Logan, CO	0.0	25
May 27	4:27 PM CDT	EF0	Lee, IL	0.7	30
May 27	4:27 PM CDT	EF0	Cook, IL	0.8	50
May 27	4:30 PM CDT	EF0	Lake, IN	1.1	100
May 27	4:38 PM CDT	EF0	Woodford, IL	0.1	10
May 27	4:35 PM MDT	EF0	Logan, CO	0.0	25
May 27	4:44 PM MDT	EF0	Sedgwick, CO	0.0	50
May 27	4:53 PM MDT	EF0	Adams, CO	0.0	25
May 27	5:04 PM MDT	EF0	Weld, CO	0.0	25
May 27	5:25 PM MDT	Unrated	Yuma, CO	0.0	10
May 27	7:34 PM EDT	EF1	Miami, IN	0.6	50
May 27	7:51 PM EDT	EF3	Fulton, IN	13.7	800
May 27	5:51 PM MDT	EF0	Phillips, CO	0.0	25
May 27	8:05 PM EDT	EF2	Madison, IN	5.9	100		1	$150,000
May 27	8:10 PM EDT	EF2	Grant, IN	4.1	150
May 27	8:26 PM EDT	EF1	Wabash, IN	1.9	50
May 27	8:29 PM EDT	EF1	Henry, IN	0.2	50			$20,000
May 27	6:31 PM MDT	EF0	Phillips, CO	0.0	25
May 27	8:39 PM EDT	EF1	Henry, IN	2.5	200			$40,000
May 27	6:43 PM MDT	EF0	Chase, NE	0.2	25
May 27	8:59 PM EDT	EF3	Wells, IN	12.8	1,200		2
May 27	7:23 PM MDT	EF1	Chase, NE	5.5	250			$200,000
May 27	7:37 PM MDT	EF0	Chase, NE	0.1	50			$15,000
May 27	9:48 PM EDT	EF1	Darke, OH	1.4	100			$100,000
May 27	10:02 PM EDT	EF3	Mercer, OH	10.8	250	1	8	$15 million
May 27	10:04 PM EDT	EF1	Darke, OH	0.5	200			$500,000
May 27	8:05 PM MDT	EF0	Chase, NE	0.2	25			$15,000
May 27	10:25 PM EDT	EF3	Darke, OH	10.5	1,320		1	$10 million
May 27	10:33 PM EDT	EF1	Auglaize, OH	1.3	150			$500,000
May 27	10:41 PM EDT	EF4	Dayton tornado, OH	18.2	1,050		166	$500 million
May 27	10:47 PM EDT	EF0	Auglaize, OH	4.0	150			$50,000
May 27	10:47 PM EDT	EF0	Miami, OH	5.6	200			$50,000
May 27	11:01 PM EDT	EF0	Auglaize, OH	0.2	30			$10,000
May 27	11:08 PM EDT	EF0	Miami, OH	1.1	50			$10,000
May 27	11:12 PM EDT	EF3	Montgomery, OH	9.9	1,230			$51 million
May 27	11:19 PM EDT	EF0	Miami, OH	3.0	50			$70,000
May 27	11:28 PM EDT	EF0	Hardin, OH	2.0	50			$25,000
May 27	11:34 PM EDT	EF2	Montgomery, OH	7.6	440			$1.0 million
May 27	10:45 PM CDT	EF0	Nuckolls, NE	0.0	75			$75,000
May 27	11:48 PM EDT	EF1	Greene, OH	5.8	250			$53,000
May 27	12:23 AM EDT	EF0	Greene, OH	4.2	250			$200,000
May 27	12:57 AM EDT	EF1	Pickaway, OH	3.8	150			$1.0 million
May 27	1:09 AM EDT	EF1	Pickaway, OH	1.6	75			$1.5 million

All 63 of them

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.