Tornadoes · United States · New Mexico · 1977

F1 tornado, Colfax County, New Mexico, June 1, 1977

This F1 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Colfax County on June 1, 1977, touching down at 2:45 PM MDT and reaching 23 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 1, and did $500 to $5,000 of property damage.

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 mph

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

  2. F173 to 112 mphthis tornado

    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
F1, estimated from the damage record rather than surveyed
Date
June 1, 1977
Touchdown
2:45 PM MDT (20:45 UTC)
Path length
2.0 miles (3.2 km)
Path width
23 yards (21 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
1
Property damage
$500 to $5,000
County
Colfax County
Touchdown point
36.400, -104.620
Record number
404

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.

Albuquerq/Krtlnd, NM (KABQ), 12:00Z

8.8 hours before the tornado, 233 km from the path. June 1, 1977.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Albuquerq/Krtlnd, NM at 12:00Z on 1977-06-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 30 joules per kilogram, CIN -490, lifted condensation level 2285 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, Albuquerq/Krtlnd, NM at 12:00Z on 1977-06-01The 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 -58 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 7 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
30 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-490 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2285 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-58 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
68 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Albuquerq/Krtlnd, NM (KABQ), 00:00Z

3.2 hours after it, 233 km from the path. June 2, 1977.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Albuquerq/Krtlnd, NM at 00:00Z on 1977-06-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 246 joules per kilogram, CIN -51, lifted condensation level 3084 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 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, Albuquerq/Krtlnd, NM at 00:00Z on 1977-06-02The 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 95 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
246 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-51 J/kg
Surface CAPE
368 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3084 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
12 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
95 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
173 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
10.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1977 tornado in New MexicoEvery tornado in New Mexico since 1950Warnings in force in New Mexico nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 1, 1977

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 12:27 PM MDTF1Glacier, MT0.110$5,000 to $50,000
June 13:50 PM MDTF1Cascade, MT0.110$50,000 to $500,000
June 17:40 PM EDTF1Northampton, PA1.050$500 to $5,000
June 16:43 PM CDTF0Jackson, MS0.1100$50 to $500
June 16:35 PM MDTF1El Paso, CO2.020

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.