Tornadoes · United States · New Mexico · 2023
Unrated tornado, Texico, New Mexico, May 23, 2023
This Unrated tornado ran 0.5 miles across Curry County on May 23, 2023, touching down at 4:57 PM 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.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
Unratedthis tornado
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
- Unrated
- Date
- May 23, 2023
- Touchdown
- 4:57 PM MDT (22:57 UTC)
- Lifted
- 5:01 PM MDT (23:01 UTC)
- On the ground
- 4 minutes
- Path length
- 0.5 miles (0.8 km)
- Path width
- 20 yards (18 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Curry County
- Touchdown point
- 34.347, -103.059
- Lift-off point
- 34.340, -103.057
- Record number
- 2305231657-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Afternoon thunderstorms developed along a sharpening dryline across eastern NM. Storms strengthened as they tracked eastward toward the Texas border, producing large hail and even a landspout tornado. Hail reports ranged in size from pennies to golf balls and were focused across Quay and Curry counties. The landspout was reported just south of Texico and caused no damage.
An off duty National Weather Service employee reported a landspout that began near County Road 6 and Curry Road B and moved south to near County Road 5. There was no damage reported.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Albuquerque, NM wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at May 23, 3:00 PM MDT, 1 hour 57 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 23, 3:00 PM MDT, 1 hour 57 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Albuquerque NM 300 PM MDT Tue May 23 2023 ...New SYNOPSIS, SHORT TERM, LONG TERM, FIRE WEATHER... .SYNOPSIS... Issued at 300 PM MDT Tue May 23 2023 Showers and thunderstorms will be focused over north central and eastern New Mexico through this week and the Memorial Day weekend. A few storms over northeast New Mexico will be strong to severe with heavy downpours, large hail and damaging winds this afternoon and evening. A few strong to severe storms are also possible Wednesday and Thursday afternoons and evenings over the eastern plains. Highs will be near to a few degrees cooler than normal while overnight lows will be slightly warmer than average. && .SHORT TERM... (This evening through Wednesday night) Issued at 300 PM MDT Tue May 23 2023 Combined thunderstorm outflow from all the convection on the east central and northeast plains today is forecast to push southwestward across the remainder of the east late this afternoon, then through gaps in the central mountain chain this evening and into the late night hours with a gusty east canyon wind mainly from Albuquerque southward to Carrizozo. A similar gap wind is forecast for Wednesday night. Widespread low clouds are also forecast across much of the eastern plains tonight through Wednesday morning, and again Wednesday night, due to moist easterly upslope flow. Scattered showers and thunderstorms will linger this evening, then taper off by shortly after midnight. With all the moisture in place, scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms will return again Wednesday afternoon along and east of the Far Northwest Highlands, Northwest Highlands, Central Mountains and South Central Mountains. Models depict some storms lingering into the late night hours Wednesday night on the eastern plains. Both today and Wednesday shear and instability look sufficient for strong to severe storms on the eastern plains. && .LONG TERM... (Thursday through Monday) Issued at 300 PM MDT Tue May 23 2023 Wednesday night may see a surge of low level moisture to the central mountain chain and through passes into the Rio Grande Valley but models indicate the surges Thursday and Friday nights may be more robust. Indications are low level moisture that makes it into the Rio Grande Valley may mix out with daytime heating with the higher dew points remaining along the east slopes of the central mountain chain and over the eastern plains. At this time can't rule out that there could be enough moisture lingering though for a few dry showers and storms with lightning, gusty winds and virga along the western slopes and into the Rio Grande Valley. Also at this time, SPC day 3 outlook has a marginal risk for severe storms painted over approximately the eastern third of the state. Saturday into Sunday lower PWAT air makes more progress eastward over the state thanks to an upper trough swinging into western New Mexico. Thereafter, another upper low relocating to near Baja CA may help draw more moisture back into central New Mexico, leading to an increase in areal coverage of showers and storms. High temperatures through the long term period will be near to a few degrees cooler than normal while overnight lows will be slightly warmer than average. && .AVIATION... (18Z TAFS) Issued at 1144 AM MDT Tue May 23 2023 Scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms are expected this afternoon along and east of the northern mountains. Scattered to isolated activity is forecast over the east central plains with spottier activity over northwest areas. Mainly dry microbursts west of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains will be capable of erratic wind gusts up to 45 kt, while wetter variety microbursts east and southeast of the Sangre de Cristos could reach 50 kt in stronger cells. A few severe storms may also produce large hail over northeast areas. Showers and thunderstorms will decrease in coverage and intensity after sunset this evening. A line of storms crossing northeast NM is forecast to send a broad gust front southwestward through the eastern plains late this afternoon and into the evening with a gusty northeasterly wind shift. The gust front will push through gaps in the central mountain chain with wind gusts up to 30 kt below canyons opening into the central valley from late evening into the late night hours. Late tonight through much of Wednesday morning, areas of low clouds will produce MVFR and localized IFR conditions across much of the eastern plains. The low clouds could spread as far west as KLVS toward sunrise, but there is much higher confidence that they will reach KTCC, and moderate confidence they will reach KROW. && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued at 300 PM MDT Tue May 23 2023 The dryline will slosh back and forth across eastern areas each day and night for the remainder of the week with daily rounds of mainly wetting showers and thunderstorms along and east of the central mountain chain. Thunderstorm outflow will probably also produce a gusty gap wind in the central valley each night. The low level moisture that arrives with the east canyon wind should generally be shallow enough to mix out of the central valley each afternoon, except for the northwest mountains and upper Rio Grande Valley where enough moisture will linger for drier variety showers and thunderstorms each afternoon. Farther west, dry weather is expected each day with high temperatures near normal. Southwest winds will be gusty west of the dryline each afternoon. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Farmington...................... 49 82 49 84 / 10 10 0 0 Dulce........................... 39 75 42 78 / 20 30 0 10 Cuba............................ 46 76 47 76 / 10 10 5 10 Gallup.......................... 42 79 42 81 / 5 0 0 0 El Morro........................ 44 75 43 78 / 5 0 0 5 Grants.......................... 42 80 43 82 / 5 0 0 5 Quemado......................... 45 78 44 80 / 0 0 0 0 Magdalena....................... 51 79 50 80 / 5 0 0 5 Datil........................... 47 77 45 78 / 0 0 0 0 Reserve......................... 39 80 42 83 / 0 0 0 0 Glenwood........................ 49 84 50 87 / 0 0 0 0 Chama........................... 38 68 40 72 / 20 40 10 20 Los Alamos...................... 51 74 52 75 / 20 20 10 20 Pecos........................... 47 75 48 75 / 20 40 20 40 Cerro/Questa.................... 46 69 42 71 / 40 50 20 40 Red River....................... 40 62 38 65 / 50 60 30 50 Angel Fire...................... 36 66 37 67 / 50 60 40 50 Taos............................ 40 74 43 76 / 30 40 10 30 Mora............................ 41 69 44 72 / 30 60 30 50 Espanola........................ 49 82 51 82 / 20 30 10 20 Santa Fe........................ 50 77 51 77 / 10 30 20 30 Santa Fe Airport................ 49 80 50 80 / 10 20 10 20 Albuquerque Foothills........... 59 82 58 83 / 10 5 5 10 Albuquerque Heights............. 57 83 57 85 / 10 0 0 10 Albuquerque Valley.............. 57 86 55 87 / 10 0 0 10 Albuquerque West Mesa........... 56 84 56 85 / 10 0 0 10 Belen........................... 53 87 55 88 / 5 0 0 5 Bernalillo...................... 56 85 55 86 / 10 5 0 10 Bosque Farms.................... 54 87 54 88 / 10 0 0 10 Corrales........................ 56 85 56 86 / 10 5 0 10 Los Lunas....................... 54 87 54 87 / 10 0 0 10 Placitas........................ 57 82 55 82 / 10 5 0 10 Rio Rancho...................... 56 83 56 84 / 10 5 0 10 Socorro......................... 55 88 56 89 / 5 0 0 5 Sandia Park/Cedar Crest......... 50 77 51 77 / 10 10 10 20 Tijeras......................... 52 79 52 79 / 10 10 5 20 Edgewood........................ 47 79 50 79 / 10 10 10 20 Moriarty/Estancia............... 45 81 48 81 / 10 10 10 20 Clines Corners.................. 47 76 49 76 / 20 20 20 30 Mountainair..................... 48 80 48 80 / 5 5 0 10 Gran Quivira.................... 48 81 49 80 / 0 5 0 20 Carrizozo....................... 56 85 56 84 / 0 5 0 10 Ruidoso......................... 48 78 49 75 / 0 10 10 30 Capulin......................... 45 69 47 71 / 20 70 40 50 Raton........................... 45 74 47 76 / 20 60 30 40 Springer........................ 47 74 50 76 / 30 60 30 40 Las Vegas....................... 44 73 48 73 / 20 50 30 40 Clayton......................... 53 72 53 75 / 30 70 60 40 Roy............................. 50 73 51 73 / 40 60 50 40 Conchas......................... 54 81 55 80 / 30 60 50 40 Santa Rosa...................... 53 80 55 79 / 20 40 30 40 Tucumcari....................... 54 80 55 80 / 20 40 50 30 Clovis.......................... 55 79 56 79 / 20 20 50 40 Portales........................ 55 80 57 81 / 20 20 40 30 Fort Sumner..................... 55 84 57 83 / 10 40 30 30 Roswell......................... 60 91 63 87 / 0 20 20 30 Picacho......................... 53 84 56 81 / 0 20 10 30 Elk............................. 50 82 52 79 / 0 10 5 30 && .ABQ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && SHORT TERM...44 LONG TERM....99 AVIATION...44
In the hours before
Local storm report, May 23, 4:20 PM MDT, 37 minutes before
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</html>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
11.0 hours before the tornado, 158 km from the path. May 23, 2023.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 351 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -254 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 119 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1196 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 22 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 10 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 118 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 132 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.1
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.9 K/km
The surface observations
Clovis Muni (CVN), 9 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 UTC |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2023 tornado in New MexicoEvery tornado in New Mexico since 1950Warnings in force in New Mexico nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of May 23, 2023
1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 23 | 9:13 PM CDT | EF2 | Jones, TX | 4.6 | 700 | 2 |
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.