Tornadoes · United States · Nevada · 1992

F0 tornado, Clark County, Nevada, March 30, 1992

This F0 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Clark County on March 30, 1992, touching down at 1:20 PM PST and reaching 13 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

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

  1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

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

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    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.

The record

Rating
F0
Date
March 30, 1992
Touchdown
1:20 PM PST (21:20 UTC)
Path length
0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Path width
13 yards (12 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Clark County
Touchdown point
36.180, -115.120
Record number
97

The warnings

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.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
19:26 UTC20:30 UTCTornado WarningVEF
02:37 UTC05:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningVEF

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 06:17 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 surface observations

Nellis Afb (LSV), 10 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
19:20 UTC20° 11 kt201015.6TS
20:00 UTC654820° 14 kt1014.2TS
21:00 UTC614920° 15 kt221013.9TS
21:10 UTC20° 16 kt1013.5TSRA
21:30 UTC30° 12 kt181014.2TSRA
21:43 UTC30° 10 kt1014.2TSRA
22:00 UTC575110° 14 kt201014.2TSRAPL
22:05 UTC340° 9 kt1013.9TSRA
22:44 UTC360° 5 kt1013.2TSRA
23:00 UTC575040° 7 kt1014.2TSRA
23:12 UTC10° 5 kt1014.6TSRA FG

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1992 tornado in NevadaEvery tornado in Nevada since 1950Warnings in force in Nevada nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of March 30, 1992

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 301:45 PM PSTF1Clark, NV1.530$50,000 to $500,000
March 309:10 PM ESTF0Lee, FL0.210$50 to $500

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.