Tornadoes · United States · New Mexico · 2007

EF0 tornado, Domingo, New Mexico, June 9, 2007

This EF0 tornado ran 3.8 miles across Sandoval County on June 9, 2007, touching down at 3:33 PM MDT and reaching 18 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
June 9, 2007
Touchdown
3:33 PM MDT (21:33 UTC)
Lifted
3:45 PM MDT (21:45 UTC)
On the ground
12 minutes
Path length
3.8 miles (6.0 km)
Path width
18 yards (16 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Sandoval County
Touchdown point
35.471, -106.320
Lift-off point
35.478, -106.254
Record number
0706091533-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong surge of low level moisture moved into the state late on the 8th and early on the 9th, thanks in part to a strong back door cold front. The front moved south across the easter plains on the 8th and rushed through the central mountain passes into the Rio Grande Valley early on the 9th. The moisture pressed all the way back to the continental divide.

The tornado was first spotted 2 miles south of Domingo in extreme eastern Sandoval county near Interstate 25. It continued east toward county line, crossing into Santa Fe County around 3:45 pm. The observer at the Santa Fe Municipal Airport reported seeing the tornado for 15 minutes, from 3:27 - 3:42 pm. It's possible then the tornado (landspout) was on the ground before the first report of it 2 miles south of Domingo. |

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
21:07 UTC22:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQ
21:35 UTC22:15 UTCTornado WarningABQ
21:48 UTC01:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchABQ

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:04 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.

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

9.6 hours before the tornado, 55 km from the path. June 9, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Albuquerq/Krtlnd, NM at 12:00Z on 2007-06-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 206 joules per kilogram, CIN -206, lifted condensation level 1494 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 2007-06-09The 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 130 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 31 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
206 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-206 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1494 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
130 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
85 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3
0-3 km lapse rate
5.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

2.4 hours after it, 55 km from the path. June 10, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Albuquerq/Krtlnd, NM at 00:00Z on 2007-06-10Temperature 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 -82063, lifted condensation level 2584 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, Albuquerq/Krtlnd, NM at 00:00Z on 2007-06-10The 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 -37 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 35 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
-82063 J/kg
Surface CAPE
11 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2584 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-37 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
28 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Santa Fe Co. Municipal (SAF), 24 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
19:53 UTC8245170° 16 kt231021.3
20:53 UTC8145160° 14 kt221020
21:27 UTC78.844.6160° 10 kt171020+FC
21:41 UTC78.844.6160° 11 kt1020
21:53 UTC7746160° 8 kt1020-RA
22:03 UTC75.246.4200° 4 kt1020VCTS -RA
22:18 UTC66.253.6260° 12 kt1020+RA
22:24 UTC66.251.8230° 9 kt181020.3+RA
22:29 UTC66.248.2150° 7 kt181020.7+TSRA
22:40 UTC64.451.890° 16 kt291020.3+TSRA
22:51 UTC66.253.6 3 kt141019.3-TSRA
22:53 UTC6754 3 kt141019-TSRA
23:20 UTC5953.620° 12 kt211023.7+TSRA
23:31 UTC57.251.810° 15 kt1024-TSRA

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

The radar

The Albuquerque radar (KABX), 61 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:33 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
21:33 UTCTORNADO2 S DomingoSandoval, NM
21:42 UTCTORNADOLa BajadaSanta Fe, NMSANTA FE AIRPORT TOWER REPORTED A TORNADO ON THE GROUND NEAR LA BAJADA FOR 15 MINUTES FROM 327 PM TO 342 PM... LIKELY INITIATED IN SANDOVAL COUNTY.
21:50 UTCHAIL 1.252 E DomingoSandoval, NMALONG INTERSTATE 25 NEAR LA BAJADA. A FEW HAIL STONES LARGER THAN QUARTERS.
22:10 UTCTORNADO5 Nw MadridSanta Fe, NMSAME SEVERE THUNDERSTORM...SECOND OBSERVED TORNADO.
22:16 UTCHAIL 0.88La BajadaSanta Fe, NM
23:05 UTCHAIL 0.884 E La CienegaSanta Fe, NMTWO INCHES DEEP ALONG HIGHWAY 14...EAST OF LA CIENEGA.
23:40 UTCHAIL 0.758 Se Los AlamosLos Alamos, NM

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2007 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 9, 2007

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 93:45 PM MDTEF0Santa Fe, NM0.512
June 94:10 PM MDTEF0Santa Fe, NM0.18

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.