Tornadoes · United States · New Mexico · 2014

EF0 tornado, Clapham, New Mexico, June 7, 2014

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Union County on June 7, 2014, touching down at 8:33 AM MDT and reaching 20 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 7, 2014
Touchdown
8:33 AM MDT (14:33 UTC)
Lifted
8:34 AM MDT (14:34 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
20 yards (18 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Union County
Touchdown point
36.250, -103.280
Lift-off point
36.250, -103.280
Record number
1406070833-01

What the Weather Service recorded

This was the second day in a mutli-day significant severe weather outbreak across eastern New Mexico. A back door cold front moved into the northeast and east central portions of the state throughout the morning then nudged up against the central mountain chain by the afternoon hours. Deep moisture and instability aided in the development of supercell thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening hours along the east slopes of the central mountain chain that moved into the eastern plains. Large, damaging hail, strong winds, heavy downpours, and tornadoes were reported. Hail ranging from 2 to 4 inches in diameter caused significant damage to windows and vehicles as well as livestock and homes around Corona and Clovis. A tornado was also reported in Corona with only damage to open rangeland. Another thunderstorm that moved through Ranchvale and Clovis produced widespread wind damage.

Spotter reported funnel cloud briefly touched ground for about 1 minute then retreated quickly back into storm 11 miles northwest of Sedan.

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
20:43 UTC03:00 UTCTornado WatchABQ
22:01 UTC22:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQ
22:38 UTC23:15 UTCTornado WarningABQ
23:11 UTC01:15 UTCFlood AdvisoryABQ
23:12 UTC23:45 UTCTornado WarningABQ
23:16 UTC23:55 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQ
23:22 UTC23:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQ
23:27 UTC23:54 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQ
23:35 UTC00:15 UTCTornado WarningABQ
00:00 UTC00:30 UTCTornado WarningABQ
00:53 UTC01:47 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQ
01:11 UTC01:29 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQ
13:57 UTC14:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQ
22:15 UTC06:00 UTCTornado WatchABQ
22:51 UTC23:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQ
23:13 UTC01:15 UTCFlood AdvisoryABQ
00:25 UTC00:50 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQ
01:06 UTC01:36 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningABQ

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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:44 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.

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), 12:00Z

2.6 hours before the tornado, 182 km from the path. June 7, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 2014-06-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 118 joules per kilogram, CIN -245, lifted condensation level 1654 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 2014-06-07The 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 22 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 52 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
118 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-245 J/kg
Surface CAPE
246 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1654 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
52 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
2 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
22 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-110 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
5.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), 00:00Z

9.4 hours after it, 182 km from the path. June 8, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Amarillo Airport, TX at 00:00Z on 2014-06-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 11 joules per kilogram, CIN -422, lifted condensation level 1959 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Amarillo Airport, TX at 00:00Z on 2014-06-08The 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 40 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 49 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
11 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-422 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1194 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1959 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
40 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
323 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
6.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 181 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 14:33 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
14:33 UTCTORNADO11 Nw SedanUnion, NMTORNADO BRIEFLY ON GROUND. QUICKLY RETREATED BACK INTO CLOUD.

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 New MexicoEvery tornado in New Mexico since 1950Warnings in force in New Mexico nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 7, 2014

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 72:35 PM CDTEF0Gasconade, MO0.120
June 72:48 PM CDTEF1New Madrid, KY to MO, TN18.2200$270,000
June 73:56 PM CDTEF0Saint Charles, MO2.720
June 74:14 PM CDTEF0Saint Louis, MO4.240
June 75:19 PM CDTEF0Monroe, IL0.340
June 75:43 PM CDTEF0Monroe, IL0.330
June 74:58 PM MDTEF0Lincoln, NM0.350
June 75:14 PM MDTEF0Lincoln, NM0.150
June 77:25 PM MDTEF0Chaves, NM3.750
June 71:59 AM EDTEF0Troup, GA1.8280$150,000

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.