EF2 tornado, Dora to Rogers, New Mexico, May 26, 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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

May 26, 2019

Touchdown

7:20 PM MDT (01:20 UTC)

Lifted

7:47 PM MDT (01:47 UTC)

On the ground

27 minutes

Path length

9.5 miles (15.3 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$2.0 million

County

Roosevelt County

Touchdown point

33.888, -103.300

Lift-off point

33.996, -103.198

Record number

1905261920-01

1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LUB, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry.

• Photo on Twitter from James G Rodriguez

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

A potent upper level storm system approaching New Mexico from the west interacted with deep moisture and very unstable conditions along a sharp dryline over eastern New Mexico on May 26, 2019. Dry showers and thunderstorms with strong downburst winds first developed along the Continental Divide by late morning before marching east into the Rio Grande Valley through the afternoon. Several locations within the Rio Grande Valley reported wind gusts in excess of 60 mph, including Los Lunas, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Taos. Wind damage was also reported as this activity moved across the central mountain chain into the Estancia Valley. Meanwhile, showers and thunderstorms fired up along the dryline in eastern New Mexico then quickly became severe with large hail, high winds, and several tornados. A violent supercell thunderstorm that moved through Union County during the late afternoon produced at least two tornadoes and three inch hail. Severe thunderstorms then evolved into a quasi-linear convective system over the Caprock region and resulted in a large area of high winds and large hail. Several more tornadoes developed along the southern edge of this line, including a spectacular wedge tornado near Dora. In addition to all the severe thunderstorms that impacted the region, many areas outside of thunderstorm activity in central and western New Mexico also reported strong southwest winds with gusts of 50 to 60 mph.

The NWS surveyed damage from a strong tornado that impacted parts of southern Roosevelt County during the early evening of Sunday, May 26, 2019. The tornado lasted nearly 30 minutes and tracked about 10 miles over predominately rural ranch/farmland in southern Roosevelt County. No injuries were reported. Two known properties were impacted: one 4 miles southeast of Dora and another approximately 5 �� miles east-northeast of Dora. Additionally, considerable damage to electrical infrastructure was noted including ten consecutive power poles snapped several feet above the ground 1-2 miles east of Rogers on the north side of NM 237. Farther southwest, several high voltage power poles/structures were partially collapsed and associated lines downed 2-3 miles south-southeast of Dora. A well-built hay barn that was originally an early 20th century church was completely destroyed. A power pole was snapped 12 feet above the ground, lofted at least 10 feet and driven into the ground 100 yards away. Partial ground scouring was noted along State Road 114 where the tornado crossed near Roosevelt County Rd. M. Based on assessed damage, wind speeds were estimated to be in the 120-130 mph range. Damage estimates are estimated for residential and infrastructure.

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

2 minutes of warning. NWS ABQ issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:18 UTC, 2 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:00 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:42 UTC and running to 02:18 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:37 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), 49 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

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 2019 tornado in New MexicoEvery tornado in New Mexico since 1950Warnings in force in New Mexico nowThe forecast where you are

37 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.