{"id":16531,"date":"2025-09-14T00:04:56","date_gmt":"2025-09-14T00:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/update-southwest-colorado-faces-tornado-warnings-flood-watch-twister-hits-utah-homes\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:58:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:58:35","slug":"update-southwest-colorado-faces-tornado-warnings-flood-watch-twister-hits-utah-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/update-southwest-colorado-faces-tornado-warnings-flood-watch-twister-hits-utah-homes\/","title":{"rendered":"Update: Southwest Colorado faces tornado warnings, flood watch; twister hits Utah homes"},"content":{"rendered":"

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According to KOAT, the National Weather Service said a confirmed tornado was located 10 miles northeast of Montezuma Creek, moving northeast at 10 mph. (Photo courtesy Navajo Police Department)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecent burn scars, including Deer Creek, Lee, Elk, South Rim, Turner Gulch and Stoner Mesa, will be the most susceptible,\u201d the weather service said. \u201cExcessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams and other low-lying and flood-prone locations.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cTornadoes are rare in the Southwest and to have two\u00a0of them\u00a0occurring\u00a0in the\u00a0same moment \u2013 in my knowledge of weather history in the area, that is unprecedented,\u201d said Andrus.<\/p>\n

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<\/a> for southeastern San Juan County.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The Navajo Police Department <\/a>said the tornado \u201ccontinues to dissipate and a funnel re-forms.\u201d 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.<\/a><\/p>\n

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

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 \u201cone storm that produced at least two tornadoes in its lifetime.\u201d<\/p>\n

In all likelihood, the tornado\u2019s intensity will be measured at EF0 to EF1, said Sanders, based on a rising scale of 1 to 5.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s twister was called a \u201clong-track tornado,\u201d <\/a>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.<\/p>\n