EF1 tornado, Ranchvale, New Mexico, December 27, 2019

1. EF065 to 85 mph

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

2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

   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

EF1

Date

December 27, 2019

Touchdown

4:54 PM MST (23:54 UTC)

Lifted

5:03 PM MST (00:03 UTC)

On the ground

9 minutes

Path length

4.8 miles (7.7 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$300,000

County

Curry County

Touchdown point

34.580, -103.343

Lift-off point

34.641, -103.302

Record number

1912271754-01

An upper level low pressure system that moved slowly northeast from Arizona into New Mexico on December 27, 2019 produced light to moderate mountain snow with valley rain. A couple strong thunderstorms with small hail and heavy rain also developed over eastern New Mexico with this system. One of these thunderstorms developed into a supercell and produced an exceptionally rare tornado over rural north-central Curry County near the Palla West Dairy. This was the latest confirmed tornado on record for the state of New Mexico. A second upper level low pressure system developed over the region in the wake of this first system on December 28, 2019. The second system was accompanied by a back door cold front over eastern New Mexico. Heavier mountain snow impacted the northern and western high terrain with much colder temperatures and very difficult travel conditions. Snowfall amounts ranged from 12 to 20 inches over the northern mountains with lighter amounts of two to six inches over the lower terrain of northern and western New Mexico. Numerous motor vehicle accidents were reported along Interstate 40 between Gallup and Grants as well as along U.S. Highway 285 north of Santa Fe. The extent of any injuries or damage to vehicles was unavailable from New Mexico State Police.

Three large power transmission poles were snapped and toppled to the ground, no less than three center pivot irrigation sections were flipped over or destroyed, several sections of range land fencing were damaged, and dozens of small yucca plants were uprooted. The tornado missed a nearby residence by only 300 yards and barely missed the nearby Palla West Dairy. Damage amounts are estimated for utility and property losses.

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

1 minute of warning. NWS ABQ issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:53 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:13 UTC.

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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:53 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.

Cannon Afb/Clovis (CVS), 25 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Cannon AFB radar (KFDX), 27 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:56 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.

The live radar over the trackEvery 2019 tornado in New MexicoEvery tornado in New Mexico since 1950Warnings in force in New Mexico nowThe forecast where you are

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.