Tornadoes · United States · Nevada · 2017

EF0 tornado, Incline Vlg, Nevada, September 13, 2017

This EF0 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Washoe County on September 13, 2017, touching down at 3:51 PM PDT and reaching 50 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.

  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
September 13, 2017
Touchdown
3:51 PM PDT (22:51 UTC)
Lifted
4:15 PM PDT (23:15 UTC)
On the ground
24 minutes
Path length
2.0 miles (3.2 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Washoe County
Touchdown point
39.178, -119.961
Lift-off point
39.202, -119.957
Record number
1709131651-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Strong Thunderstorms developed over the Eastern Sierra and Northwestern Nevada on the afternoon of September 13th as an upper-level area of low pressure moved over south-central California.

North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District reported a confirmed tornado/waterspout a mile off the northeastern shore of Lake Tahoe near Sand Harbor, Nevada. The position of the tornado was estimated based on a video and terrain features. Numerous other spotter photos also showed a well-defined spray ring on the water surface of Lake Tahoe. The tornado was determined to be an EF-0 as no damage was reported. This tornado was associated with a supercell thunderstorm.

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

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:57 UTC23:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningREV
23:12 UTC23:45 UTCTornado WarningREV
23:37 UTC00:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningREV
00:16 UTC02:23 UTCFlood AdvisoryREV
02:03 UTC03:00 UTCFlood AdvisoryREV

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 19:42 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.

Reno, NV (KREV), 12:00Z

10.9 hours before the tornado, 157 km from the path. September 13, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Reno, NV at 12:00Z on 2017-09-13Temperature 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 -89456, lifted condensation level 1859 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 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, Reno, NV at 12:00Z on 2017-09-13The 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 20 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 18 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-89456 J/kg
Surface CAPE
11 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1859 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
20 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
14 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Reno, NV (KREV), 00:00Z

1.1 hours after it, 157 km from the path. September 14, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Reno, NV at 00:00Z on 2017-09-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 104 joules per kilogram, CIN -87, lifted condensation level 2448 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 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, Reno, NV at 00:00Z on 2017-09-14The 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 -25 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 21 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
104 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-87 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1062 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2448 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-25 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
14 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.7
0-3 km lapse rate
9.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Carson City (CXP), 20 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
20:55 UTC80.644.60° 0 kt1014.2
21:15 UTC82.444.680° 4 kt1013.9
21:35 UTC82.444.690° 3 kt1013.5
21:55 UTC82.444.690° 5 kt1013.2TS
22:15 UTC82.444.690° 5 kt1013.2VCTS
22:35 UTC84.24190° 4 kt1012.5
22:55 UTC84.242.8160° 6 kt1012.2TS
23:15 UTC7746.4200° 6 kt161013.2VCTS
23:35 UTC75.242.8250° 10 kt201014.9VCTS
23:55 UTC60.853.6220° 7 kt1015.2-TSRA
00:15 UTC62.651.8210° 5 kt1014.9-TSRA
00:35 UTC62.655.4120° 4 kt1014.6VCTS

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

The radar

The Reno radar (KRGX), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:49 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
23:12 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD2 Se Kings BeachWashoe, NVA NWS EMPLOYEE REPORTED A FUNNEL CLOUD OVER LAKE TAHOE NEAR GLENBROOK.
23:22 UTCWATER SPOUT1 W GlenbrookDouglas, NVNORTH LAKE TAHOE FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT REPORTED A CONFIRMED WATER SPOUT ON LAKE TAHOE NEAR GLENBROOK.
23:39 UTCHAIL 0.5Carson CityCarson City, NVTRAINED WEATHER SPOTTER REPORTED MARBLE SIZED HAIL.
23:49 UTCHAIL 0.51 N Carson CityCarson City, NVTRAINED WEATHER SPOTTER REPORTED MARBLE SIZED HAIL COVERING THE GROUND AND HAIL FOG.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2017 tornado in NevadaEvery tornado in Nevada since 1950Warnings in force in Nevada nowThe forecast where you are

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.