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I tend to get excited when we have tornados in Nevada. Heck, I get excited when we get clouds. Anyway, there were three supercell thunderstorms near Fallon, Nevada yesterday. Supercells are the biggest and nastiest thunderstorms. They have an very strong rotating updraft that feeds the storm and keeps it stable. Supercells commonly have intense rain, large hail, strong winds, lightning, and sometimes generate tornados.

News reports from the area stated:

A “monster storm” 20 miles wide produced a tornado, rain and large hail Monday in Northern Nevada, National Weather Service meteorologists said. A tornado touched down 5 miles north and west of Fallon, hail an inch around pelted Lahontan Reservoir and heavy rain fell on Churchill and Lyon Counties. No injuries or severe property damage were reported. Meteorologist Scott McGuire said the tornado was reported at 3:34 p.m. north of Fort Churchill State Park. It traveled across Lahontan Reservoir and passed by Fallon before dissipating by 4:45 p.m. A trained tornado watcher clocked the funnel traveling northeast at a speed of 17 mph. McGuire said there might have been more than one tornado in the area. The strength will be assessed by a storm damage survey team today.

The National Severe Storm Prediction center has some cool reports of the tornados, hail, and strong winds.

The storm damage survey team’s initial report (cleaned up for the web):

Public information statement national weather service Reno NV 630 pm PDT Tue Jul 22 2008 …preliminary damage survey results from July 21 2008 storms…

This statement may be updated on Wednesday. Photos from storm spotters and storm track maps will be posted to our website. Visit our website at weather.gov/reno for details. .

General information… Several supercell thunderstorms tracked over portions of western Nevada during the afternoon of July 21 2008…mainly affecting Lyon, mineral, and Churchill counties. Meteorologists from the national weather service in Reno surveyed areas of reported damage and funnel cloud sightings along us highway 50 from near lahontan reservoir through the fallon area and eastward to near Sand Mountain.

Three distinct supercell thunderstorms affected the area:

1) tracking from Schurz to near Sand Mountain (this was the strongest and longest lasting storm of the day), 2) from near wabuska to fallon, and 3) from near lahontan reservoir to west of fallon. At this time based on spotter reports and the damage survey evidence, we cannot confirm a tornado touchdown with these storms. However spotters did report funnel clouds with rotation at the base of the cloud with each of these storms. It should be noted that we surveyed a relatively small area along us highways 50 and 95, which makes it very difficult to definitively say a tornado path occurred. . Storm #1… The storm which tracked east of fallon near sand mountain (#1) produced a swath of hail pockmarks in the mud along highway 50 approximately 20 to 22 miles east of downtown fallon. These marks indicated that numerous hailstones of pea to marble size occurred with this cell, with a number of marks suggesting hail up to quarter size. There was damage to a power pole in this area which appeared to be caused by high winds…however based solely on this a wind speed cannot be estimated. A trained weather spotter located near fallon reported a funnel cloud with this storm, but it is uncertain whether this touched down. A department of transportation employee who happened by the site mentioned flooding had occurred across Dixie Valley road. The ditches along us highway 50 were still full of water this morning, indicating torrential rainfall fell with these storms. .

Storm #2… Straight-line wind damage was noted southwest of fallon in the schindler lane and scheckler cutoff areas. A few trees were blown down with branches torn off. Wind speeds were estimated at 60 to 70 mph. A trained weather spotter reported a funnel cloud with this storm as it passed over fallon and to the north of fallon, however in the area we surveyed we found no indications that it had touched down. The spotter also reported seeing a greenish color to the sky which is indicative of a hail core. Hail up to 1.25 inch diameter occurred with this storm in fallon. .

Storm #3… The storm survey concluded in the vicinity of fort Churchill state park in Lyon county south of Silver Springs, where park rangers indicated a brief period of small hail, but a more prolonged period of heavy rain and strong winds associated with the initial stages of this storm. Only minor tree damage was observed in this area although park rangers mentioned that cleanup had already occurred and that a portable toilet had been blown over in the storm. Based on this information…wind speeds were estimated at approximately 60 to 70 mph.

A couple of thoughts on documenting a tornado. In most of the country, it is fairly straightforward to document the swirling winds of a tornado versus the straight-line winds. However, in the desert, it can be hard to find evidence of any winds. A tornado in a wheat field in Oklahoma would leave lots of evidence but a tornado traveling across desert scrub or a playa would leave little sign of its passing. Also, unpopulated areas have few persons to report a tornado. My point is that Nevada tornados are very likely to go unreported or under-reported.

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