Tornadoes · United States · Nevada · 2014

EF0 tornado, Elko, Nevada, May 21, 2014

This EF0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Elko County on May 21, 2014, touching down at 12:48 PM PDT and reaching 125 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $2,000 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.

  1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

    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. 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 21, 2014
Touchdown
12:48 PM PDT (19:48 UTC)
Lifted
12:54 PM PDT (19:54 UTC)
On the ground
6 minutes
Path length
0.3 miles (0.4 km)
Path width
125 yards (114 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$2,000
County
Elko County
Touchdown point
40.836, -115.783
Lift-off point
40.833, -115.785
Record number
1405211348-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A thunderstorm moving form east to west across Elko produced two EF0 tornadoes. The first tornado touched down on Manzanita Lane behind JC Penny's. A photo was taken of the tornado. No damage was reported besides some debris stuck in a fence along the tornado's path. ||The second tornado touched down on Aspen Way near the Post Office. It uprooted a large tree. The tornado then moved into the Smith's parking lot where it tore some shingles off a car wash and tossed shopping carts into the air.

A photo was taken of the tornado. A storm survey was completed and the only evidence of a tornado was some debris stuck in a fence along the path of the tornado.

The tornado touched down along Aspen Way near the Post Office. It uprooted a large tree and snapped off multiple branches along Aspen Way. The tornado then moved into the Smith's parking lot where it torn off a five by twenty foot section of shingles from the car wash. It also lifted shopping carts into the air. One shopping car slammed into the back of a vehicle causing some damage.

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 16:30 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.

Elko, NV (KLKN), 12:00Z

7.8 hours before the tornado, 133 km from the path. May 21, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Elko, NV at 12:00Z on 2014-05-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 84 joules per kilogram, CIN -185, lifted condensation level 945 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 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, Elko, NV at 12:00Z on 2014-05-21The 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 102 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 16 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
84 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-185 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
945 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
102 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
163 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.6
0-3 km lapse rate
5.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Elko, NV (KLKN), 00:00Z

4.2 hours after it, 133 km from the path. May 22, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Elko, NV at 00:00Z on 2014-05-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -90544, lifted condensation level 1095 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 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, Elko, NV at 00:00Z on 2014-05-22The 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 41 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 45 knots.193958Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-90544 J/kg
Surface CAPE
24 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1095 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
6 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
41 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-2 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
7.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Elko radar (KLRX), 86 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 19:50 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
19:38 UTCTORNADO1 Ne ElkoElko, NVAFTER COMPLETING A STORM SURVEY...A BRIEF TORNADO WAS CONFIRMED THROUGH PHOTOS OF VISIBILE DEBRIS. THIS TORNADO MAINLY MOVED OVER SAGEBRUSH AND NO VISBILE DAMAGE WAS FOUND. THIS TORNADO WAS ESTIMATED AS AN EF0.
19:48 UTCHAIL 11 W ElkoElko, NVMULTIPLE REPORTS FROM THE POST OFFICE AND CAR WASH OF QUARTER SIZE HAIL. LASTED LESS THAN 5 MINUTES.
19:48 UTCTORNADO1 W ElkoElko, NVTRAINED WEATHER SPOTTER SUBMITTED VIDEO OF A ROTATING WALL CLOUD...WHICH HAS BEEN VERIFIED AS AN EF0 TORNADO AFTER A STORM SURVEY AND EYE WITNESS ACCOUNTS.
19:50 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 W ElkoElko, NVTRAINED WEATHER SPOTTER REPORTS ROTATING WALL CLOUD...VERIFIED THROUGH VIDEO. ALSO SHINGLES AND ROOFING DEBRIS WERE REMOVED FROM A STRUCTURE. SMALL HAIL WAS ALSO REPORTED.
20:00 UTCHAIL 0.883 Wsw ElkoElko, NVPUBLIC REPORTED PEA TO NICKEL SIZE HAIL. THE HAIL COVERED THE GROUND.
20:40 UTCLIGHTNINGElkoElko, NVLIGHTNING STRUCK A RADIO TOWER KNOCKING OUT A LOCAL RADIO STATION.
20:45 UTCHAIL 0.752 Nw ElkoElko, NVPUBLIC REPORTED PENNY SIZE HAIL AT 5TH AND BROOKWOOD IN ELKO.
20:45 UTCHAIL 0.752 W ElkoElko, NVHAIL COVERED THE GROUND.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2014 tornado in NevadaEvery tornado in Nevada since 1950Warnings in force in Nevada nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 21, 2014

9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 2112:38 PM PDTEF0Elko, NV0.225
May 212:05 PM MDTEF0Arapahoe, CO0.150
May 212:30 PM MDTEF0Adams, CO0.150
May 212:45 PM MDTEF0Adams, CO0.150
May 214:20 PM MDTEF0Arapahoe, CO0.150
May 215:06 PM MDTEF0Adams, CO0.150
May 214:30 PM PDTEF0Lander, NV0.250
May 216:40 PM MDTEF0Power, ID3.020$1,000
May 217:15 PM MDTEF0Platte, WY0.925

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.