Unrated tornado, Sandia Pueblo, New Mexico, August 19, 2025

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 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. 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.

Rating

Unrated

Date

August 19, 2025

Touchdown

3:35 PM MDT (21:35 UTC)

Lifted

3:37 PM MDT (21:37 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

0.7 miles (1.1 km)

Path width

40 yards (37 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Sandoval County

Touchdown point

35.232, -106.544

Lift-off point

35.233, -106.532

Record number

2508191535-01

A traditional monsoon flow on the western flank of an upper level high over the central U.S. combined with daytime heating resulted in the development of shower and thunderstorm activity across the higher terrain during the early through late afternoon hours. Some of this shower and thunderstorm activity moved over the South Fork burn scar on both August 17th and August 18th resulting in flash flooding and debris flow across roadways on and downstream of the burn scar. Overall impacts were reported to be more severe and widespread on August 17th compared to August 18th. Finally, a brief landspout was observed in Las Vegas during the mid afternoon on August 18th as well as near the Bernalillo and Sandoval County line during the mid afternoon on August 19th.

A video shared by broadcast media shows a landspout near the Bernalillo/Sandoval County line. Location and timing are estimated based on the information provided from broadcast media.

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

Albuquerque International (ABQ), 22 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Albuquerque radar (KABX), 28 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:33 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 2025 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.