Tornado outbreak in northern Arizona

While tornadoes are not as common in Arizona as in, say, the mid-western United States, neither are they rare. In an average year, about six tornadoes are reported in Arizona. It’s a near certainty that this number is an undercount of the actual number of tornadoes that occur. Because much of Arizona is sparsely populated, it’s possible — likely, even — that many tornadoes are not seen and thus, not reported.

So, while it may seem like the tornado outbreak in northern Arizona that occurred on October 6, 2010, was an extreme event, we can not be certain that it was. We can only be certain that it was one of the most extreme “reported” events.

At least eight tornadoes have been confirmed. Based on a review of the Doppler weather radar data there is a reasonable probability that additional tornadoes occurred in the vast Ponderosa forests of northern Arizona and the damage paths have not yet been noted and surveyed. While conducting a formal damage survey on October 7 and 8 for two of the already confirmed tornadoes, we found additional tornado damage paths that had not yet been previously identified.

Recent research has identified a repeatable weather pattern that is responsible for a significant fraction of tornadoes in northern Arizona. As that weather pattern began to develop, warning forecasters began to carefully monitor Doppler radar looking for signatures of severe thunderstorms. And when these signatures appeared, they quickly issued Tornado Warnings. It is almost certain that these warnings minimized injuries in the paths of these tornadoes.

Damages homes from the Bellemont, Arizona, tornadoes on October 6, 2010.
Damaged homes from the Bellemont, Arizona, tornadoes on October 6, 2010.
Flattened forest of Ponderosa Pine in northern Arizona from the tornadoes on October 6, 2010.
Flattened forest of Ponderosa Pine in northern Arizona from the tornadoes on October 6, 2010.
Forest Service crews quickly cleared treefall from Forest roads.
Forest Service crews quickly cleared treefall from Forest roads.

Some of the research on tornadoes in northern Arizona can be found at these links sponsored by the American Meteorological Society:

Blanchard, D.O., 2006: A cool season severe weather episode in northern Arizona. Preprints 23nd Conference on Severe Local Storms, St. Louis, MO., Amer. Meteor. Soc.

Blanchard, D.O., 2008: Synoptic environments associated with tornadoes in northern Arizona. Preprints 24th Conference on Severe Local Storms, Savannah, GA., Amer. Meteor. Soc.

Blanchard, D.O, 2010: Forest damage associated with tornadoes in northern Arizona. Preprint 25th Conference on Severe Local Storms, Denver, CO, Amer. Meteor. Soc.