2010 tornadoes in New Mexico

12 tornadoes touched down in New Mexico in 2010, 31 percent above the average of the record for the state. None of them killed anybody.

2009 2011 The whole country in 2010

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.

EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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.

Every tornado in New Mexico in 2010

May 14 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 14	10:50 AM MDT	EF0	Lincoln	0.4	120			$2,000

May 23 6 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Damage
May 23	8:52 PM CDT	EF2	Union to OK	22.0	440	$270,000
May 23	7:55 PM MDT	EF0	Union	2.5	100
May 23	8:10 PM MDT	EF1	Union	5.7	175	$10,000
May 23	8:12 PM MDT	EF2	Union	8.8	440	$325,000
May 23	8:36 PM MDT	EF1	Union	4.2	100	$125,000
May 23	8:59 PM MDT	EF1	Union	9.3	175

May 25 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 25	3:13 PM MDT	EF0	Roosevelt	0.3	10
May 25	3:55 PM MDT	EF0	Curry	0.1	10

July 15 1 tornado

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
July 15	5:01 PM MDT	EF0	Eddy	0.1	30

October 21 2 tornadoes

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 21	5:47 PM MDT	EF0	Chaves	2.9	200
October 21	6:03 PM MDT	EF0	Chaves	0.6	50

Crossed into New Mexico

Tornadoes that touched down in a neighboring state and ran into New Mexico. They are counted under the state they began in.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
May 23	7:52 PM MDT	EF0	Sherman, KS to NM, OK	0.1	10

Nearby

Every tornado in New Mexico since 1950 Warnings in force in New Mexico The live radar over New Mexico

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.