Power Outage in Tatum, NM

A trained spotter measured sustained winds of 59 mph and at least one wind gust of 78 mph. Also reported power outages in Tatum due to the strong wind gusts. No other damage was reported. Another trained spotter reported 60 to 70 mph winds in Gladiola, east of Tatum on U.S. 380.

At 4:50 pm MDT, spotters indicated the presence of two wall clouds. Primary indications are that the new wall cloud spawned a second tornado with the supercell thunderstorm 7 1/2 miles west of the community of McDonald, just south of Lea County Road 147. Survey of damage along county road 147 led to an estimation of tornado width of 50 yards at this point. |The tornado continued to intensify as it moved northeast. Significant damage was seen 7 1/2 miles southwest of Tatum over ranchland. At this location, 13 wooden power poles were damaged, three snapped off at ground level and others snapped three to twelve feet above ground. A water trough weighing an estimated 300 pounds was thrown from the tornado for several hundred feet. The tornado was visually estimated to be a half mile in width and described as clean in appearance. Damage along this track supports this estimate. It is believed that this tornado lifted just south of N.M. Highway 380, six and a half miles west of Tatum. Spotters also confirmed that the tornado exhibited multiple vortex structure at times during its life cycle.

A local utility company reported severe thunderstorm winds that downed power poles at several locations in northern Lea County. One pole was blown down along State Highway 206 north of Tatum at 17:55 MST. Additional utility poles were broken along U.S. Highway 380 east of Tatum between 18:25 and 19:05 MST. A resident near Gladiola estimated 60 MPH winds shortly before 19:00 MST. The electric company reported minor damage to a home near that community when thunderstorm winds ripped lines off of the home. Live electric lines came to rest tangled around a nearby pole. The extent of structural damage to the home was unknown. Power lines were blown 100 yards from utility poles just west of Bronco at 19:05 MST.