TornadoLookup

Home / Arizona / Cochise

EF1 tornado in Cochise County, Arizona

Tornado September 23, 2019 · Cochise County, Arizona

EF1
Rating
1.7 mi
Path length
580 yd
Path width
5
Injuries
$250K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 580 yards (0.33 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A tornado touched down near Cox and Hamilton Rd, and moved northeast for approximately 1.7 miles causing extensive damage. One mobile home was lifted and moved off its foundation. Five people inside, including three children sustained minor injuries. The roof of another mobile home was ripped off and power poles were snapped. Two other homes were damaged along with a large machine shed-type storage building and several trees were snapped in half or uprooted. The damage survey concluded that peak wind speeds from the tornado were between 90 and 100 mph.

The wider storm

An upper level low and tropical moisture created favorable conditions for severe weather with isolated to scattered storms forming during the evening mainly from Tucson eastward. These storms produced blowing dust in Pinal County, significant straight-line wind damage in Tucson and an EF-1 tornado in Willcox.

Began near Willcox (32.2682, -109.8966).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 857061. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.