Tornadoes · United States · New Mexico · 2021

EF0 tornado, Rainsville, New Mexico, June 2, 2021

This EF0 tornado ran 1.8 miles across Mora County on June 2, 2021, touching down at 2:31 PM MDT and reaching 50 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 2, 2021
Touchdown
2:31 PM MDT (20:31 UTC)
Lifted
2:32 PM MDT (20:32 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
1.8 miles (2.9 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Mora County
Touchdown point
35.960, -105.210
Lift-off point
35.940, -105.190
Record number
2106021431-01

The damage survey

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

  • Landspout reported on social media

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

What the Weather Service recorded

With drier air continuing to filter into the area and moist low-level return flow becoming less organized, the severe weather threat continued to diminish on June 2, 2021. However, there still remained enough atmospheric ingredients to produce another round of thunderstorm activity mainly focused along and east of the central mountain chain. Multiple funnel clouds were spotted in Mora County with even one brief landspout tornado reported near Rainsville. These thunderstorms also produced very strong winds with the strongest thunderstorm wind gust of 67 mph measured in Tucumcari.

A brief landspout tornado was spotted near Rainsville. No damage was reported.

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.

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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:54 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.

Albuquerq/Krtlnd, NM (KABQ), 12:00Z

8.5 hours before the tornado, 161 km from the path. June 2, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Albuquerq/Krtlnd, NM at 12:00Z on 2021-06-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 33 joules per kilogram, CIN -329, lifted condensation level 1869 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 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, Albuquerq/Krtlnd, NM at 12:00Z on 2021-06-02The 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 5 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 20 knots.193958Sfc1 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
33 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-329 J/kg
Surface CAPE
271 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1869 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
5 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
95 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
6.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Albuquerq/Krtlnd, NM (KABQ), 00:00Z

3.5 hours after it, 161 km from the path. June 3, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Albuquerq/Krtlnd, NM at 00:00Z on 2021-06-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -86304, lifted condensation level 3304 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 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, Albuquerq/Krtlnd, NM at 00:00Z on 2021-06-03The 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 65 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 25 knots.193958Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-86304 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3304 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
65 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
195 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
8.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Las Vegas Municipal (LVS), 33 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
18:35 UTC150° 13 kt191022.4
18:40 UTC210° 11 kt1022.4
18:45 UTC210° 11 kt1022.4
18:50 UTC200° 11 kt1022
18:53 UTC6642200° 12 kt1022
18:55 UTC200° 15 kt1022
19:00 UTC200° 14 kt191022
19:05 UTC180° 14 kt1022
19:10 UTC180° 15 kt1022
19:15 UTC170° 14 kt1022
19:20 UTC210° 11 kt1022
19:25 UTC200° 9 kt1022
19:30 UTC210° 13 kt181022
19:35 UTC220° 11 kt1021.7
19:40 UTC220° 13 kt1022
19:45 UTC220° 14 kt1022
19:50 UTC220° 11 kt1021.7
19:51 UTC64.441220° 11 kt1021.7VCTS
19:53 UTC6441220° 11 kt1021.7VCTS
19:55 UTC230° 13 kt1022
20:00 UTC 16 kt1022
20:05 UTC230° 14 kt1022-RA
20:06 UTC6241230° 14 kt1021.7-RA
20:10 UTC230° 14 kt1021.7-RA
20:15 UTC230° 16 kt211021.7-RA
20:19 UTC6141230° 16 kt1021.7VCTS -RA
20:35 UTC 14 kt1021.7
20:35 UTC6240240° 14 kt211021.7
20:40 UTC230° 11 kt1021.7
20:45 UTC230° 11 kt1021.7
20:50 UTC 14 kt1021.3-RA
20:53 UTC6141230° 14 kt1021.3-RA
20:55 UTC 15 kt1021.3-RA
21:00 UTC 11 kt1021.3
21:05 UTC6239260° 8 kt1021.7VCTS
21:05 UTC260° 8 kt1021.7
21:10 UTC220° 5 kt1021.7
21:15 UTC220° 5 kt1021.7-RA
21:20 UTC250° 5 kt1022-RA
21:20 UTC6043250° 5 kt1022-RA
21:25 UTC190° 8 kt1021.7-RA
21:30 UTC180° 7 kt1021.7-RA
21:35 UTC190° 8 kt1021.3-RA
21:40 UTC190° 7 kt1021.7
21:45 UTC210° 4 kt1021.7
21:50 UTC240° 2 kt1021.7
21:53 UTC59460° 0 kt1021.7
21:55 UTC0° 0 kt1021.7
22:00 UTC350° 7 kt1022
22:05 UTC360° 9 kt1022.4
22:10 UTC 16 kt1022.7-RA
22:15 UTC 17 kt1022.7-RA
22:20 UTC 13 kt1022.7-RA
22:25 UTC 11 kt1022.7RA
22:30 UTC310° 10 kt1022.7-RA

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

The radar

The Albuquerque radar (KABX), 172 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:30 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
20:31 UTCTORNADO1 S RainsvilleMora, NMBRIEF LANDSPOUT SPOTTED NEAR RAINSVILLE.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2021 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 2, 2021

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 22:01 PM CDTEF0Mississippi, AR0.125
June 24:59 PM EDTEF1Duplin, NC2.175
June 25:22 PM EDTEF0Columbus, NC0.735$200,000
June 29:04 PM EDTEF0Bladen, NC0.320

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.