EF0 tornado, Idlewild to Eagle Nest, New Mexico, August 9, 2018

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

August 9, 2018

Touchdown

2:25 PM MDT (20:25 UTC)

Lifted

2:33 PM MDT (20:33 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

2.3 miles (3.7 km)

Path width

80 yards (73 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$300,000

County

Colfax County

Touchdown point

36.531, -105.286

Lift-off point

36.537, -105.246

Record number

1808091425-01

1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS ABQ, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 80 mph.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

The center of upper level high pressure shifted farther west into Arizona on August 9th and allowed weaker steering flow to become more north to south across New Mexico. Deep moisture and strong instability over the state allowed numerous showers and thunderstorms to develop over the higher terrain during the early afternoon before spreading into nearby highlands and valleys through the evening. A powerful thunderstorm near Eagle Nest produced a rare landspout tornado that moved into Eagle Nest Lake while dissipating as a spectacular waterspout around 230 pm. Thunderstorms that moved off the higher terrain onto the Interstate 25 corridor produced large hail in San Miguel and Colfax counties. Very heavy rainfall near Pilar resulted in a flash flood that closed NM-567 for four days. An impressive 75 mph wind gust was reported at Gallup from thunderstorm outflow winds. Thunderstorms around the Edgewood area also resulted in accumulations of nickel size hail.

A landspout tornado produced a narrow swath of damage near Eagle Nest. This is the first documented tornado in the Moreno Valley since at least 1950. The landspout tornado also exhibited anti-cyclonic rotation during its entire lifecycle. It had a classically narrow condensation funnel cloud and formed in a vast open area just|west of U.S. 64 between mile markers 283 and 284 near Pepper Sauce Camp. The landspout tornado crossed U.S. 64 very near Elk Lane Rd. tracking slightly north of due east until dissipating over the northeast portion of Eagle Nest Lake. Elevations along the track ranged from approximately 8350 feet to 8175 feet. Approximately 180 feet of barbed wire/picket fence was downed and damaged. Several steel t-posts were sheared or bent nearly 90-degrees. All 10 units that comprise the Pepper Sauce Camp property suffered damage. All but two of sixteen west-facing windows were partially or completely destroyed by flying debris. Windows and storm doors at the main building were partially or completely busted. A small car that was parked and facing east had|all but the front windshield busted out. The bed of an old truck used as a marketing sign was lifted and carried about 50 feet toward the southwest. The front windshield of an old Chevrolet C65 truck was struck no less than 75 times by flying debris but remained intact while both side windows were completely busted out. An old hay barn was collapsed and roofing material found 300 feet away. An unoccupied fifth wheel recreational vehicle with an estimated weight of 12,000 pounds was partially lifted, shifted and rolled on its side at the Eagle Nest Campground. Two other RVs sustained|damage to include busted windows, including a Class A diesel pusher (dry weight 32,000 pounds) that was oriented nearly perpendicular to the tornado`s path. Damage amounts have been estimated.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:35 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 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.

The Albuquerque radar (KABX), 208 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:25 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 2018 tornado in New MexicoEvery tornado in New Mexico since 1950Warnings in force in New Mexico nowThe forecast where you are

1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.