Update: Southwest Colorado faces tornado warnings, flood watch; twister hits Utah homes

The Four Corners area is a long ways off from Tornado Alley. Even so, southern Utah might as well have been Kansas on Saturday afternoon with the rare threat of two unexpected twisters.

A tornado damaged three homes near Montezuma Creek, Utah, on Saturday as two twisters reportedly swept toward Southwest Colorado, prompting three tornado warnings in Montezuma County, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather service also issued a flash flood watch Saturday, in effect until midnight for portions of Southwest Colorado and eastern Utah. Cortez got about a quarter-inch of rain over the weekend, according to National Weather Service watcher Jim Andrus of Cortez.

“Recent burn scars, including Deer Creek, Lee, Elk, South Rim, Turner Gulch and Stoner Mesa, will be the most susceptible,” the weather service said. “Excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams and other low-lying and flood-prone locations.”

The Four Corners area is one of the most unlikely regions to host tornadoes. Only a handful of scattered twisters have been reported in the area since 1950, with the majority occurring around Farmington, according to a database run by the Midwestern Regional Climate Center.

“Tornadoes are rare in the Southwest and to have two of them occurring in the same moment – in my knowledge of weather history in the area, that is unprecedented,” said Andrus.

According to weather service reports, a tornado was confirmed at 12:46 p.m. Mountain time near Montezuma Creek, Utah, and came with a tornado warning for southeastern San Juan County.

A second tornado reportedly touched down in northeast San Juan County at 1:43 p.m., about 10 miles northeast of Montezuma Creek, Utah, and entered Southwest Colorado shortly after 2 p.m.

The Navajo Police Department said the tornado “continues to dissipate and a funnel re-forms.” The National Weather Service reported up to four confirmed sightings of tornadoes, with two sightings recorded in roughly the same vicinity, but at different times, leading to a conclusion that there were two tornadoes.

The Navajo Police Department reported that two homes were damaged in the Cahone Mesa area southeast of Blanding, Utah, but no one injured.

Weather officials are still coordinating with Navajo Nation to get on the ground and assess the damage caused by the tornadoes, said Kris Sanders, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service office in Grand Junction. Sanders described the conditions behind the twister as “one storm that produced at least two tornadoes in its lifetime.”

In all likelihood, the tornado’s intensity will be measured at EF0 to EF1, said Sanders, based on a rising scale of 1 to 5.

Saturday’s twister was called a “long-track tornado,” which might stay on the ground for more than 30 miles and is associated with strong, long thunderstorms. The are considered rare and pose a threat across counties or states.

Tornado timeline and locations

Time	Event	Location	Movement
12:46 p.m.	First tornado observed	7 miles NE of Montezuma Creek, Utah	NE at 10 mph
1:12 p.m.	Tornado continues	10 miles NE of Montezuma Creek	NE at 10 mph
1:43 p.m.	Second tornado observed	10 miles NE of Montezuma Creek	NE at 10 mph
2:09 p.m.	Second tornado continues	18 miles N of Aneth	NE at 15 mph

The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning in effect until 2:45 p.m. for southwestern Dolores, northwestern Montezuma and east-central San Juan counties, including Hovenweep National Monument. It reported that the tornado was on the ground. “Take cover now,” it warned.

Weather conditions favorable to a tornado moved on a path toward Hovenweep, then Dolores and Montezuma Counties, thereby issuing the warning.

“We had to anticipate the potential for it to produce a tornado,” Sanders said.

Southwest Colorado had three tornado warnings, beginning at 1:12 p.m. and ending at 2:46 p.m. The first came with a sighting at 1:12 p.m. The second came at 1:43 p.m. when a sighting was reported in roughly the same location. The third came at 2:09 p.m., as it entered western Montezuma County.

The Navajo Times quoted Carma Claw, the president of the Aneth Chapter, as saying there were multiple touchdowns.

“I think there was a count of four, possibly five across – starting from McCracken Mesa, which is north of Montezuma Creek,” Claw said.

“And then it moved across to … where the Elk Petroleum gas plant is, just north of there. And then further across to Cahone Mesa,” she said. “So it was just a series of touchdowns over, I don’t know, quite a bit of time until it started to move out of the area and then it moved into Colorado.”

At 4:31 p.m., Navajo Police confirmed that “several homes near Montezuma Creek were completely damaged,” according to the department’s Facebook page.

Saturday night, police announced on Facebook that the homes were “damaged completely in the McCracken Mesa and Cahone Mesa areas. No injuries reported. However, an unknown number of livestock and household pets have been reported missing.”

Affected families were placed in hotels, assisted by the Aneth Chapter House.

The department said it was coordinating with the Aneth Chapter House, San Juan County EMS, Utah Navajo Health System and Montezuma Creek Elementary School for recovery efforts.

The Utah Navajo Health System established an Incident Command Post, and Montezuma Creek Elementary School opened its gym to provide shelter for community members, according to the Facebook post.

Navajo Police had first reported on its Facebook page at 1:47 p.m. that a tornado had touched down.

Residents were advised to seek shelter, stay off the roads and avoid driving.

By 2:35 p.m., no new tornado sightings had been reported in the Montezuma Creek area., and Navajo Police officers continued to assess the area for injuries and structural damage.

Benjamin Rubin and Trent Stephens contributed to this article.

This article will be updated as more information becomes available.