Type Tornado outbreak Tornadoes confirmed 9 confirmed Start date October 6, 2010 | Duration October 6, 2010 Max rating | |
 | ||
Duration of tornado outbreak 1:58 a.m. – 1:05 p.m. MST (11 hours, 57 minutes) Damage $2.81 billion from Hail, $1.6 million from Bellemont Tornadoes | ||
The October 2010 Arizona tornado outbreak was the largest single-day tornado-event in Arizona history, with eight tornadoes touching down.
Contents
Meteorological synopsis
On October 5 and 6, 2010, a strong area of low pressure situated off the coast of California produced a southerly flow of warm, moist air into Arizona. Warm surface temperatures and clear skies throughout the day on October 5 allowed for significant instability, resulting in scattered severe thunderstorms during the late afternoon, evening and overnight hours. These storms produced widespread damaging hail, ranging up to 3.0 in (7.6 cm) in diameter, and hurricane-force wind gusts of 86 mph (138 km/h). Throughout the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, 2 in (5.1 cm) hail caused considerable damage to hundreds of thousands of structures. A tornado watch was issued by the Storm Prediction Center earlier that day. Tornado Warnings were issued during the evening and overnight/early morning hours by the local NWS offices in Phoenix and Flagstaff when strong rotation was visible within the t-storms on radar.
9 confirmed tornadoes were reported by the Flagstaff office of the National Weather Service.
Hailstorms
Prior to the tornado outbreak, widespread hail impacted the Phoenix metropolitan area. Three supercells caused considerable hail damage to over 150,000 homes in Phoenix, Glendale, Peoria, Mesa and Scottsdale. In some instances, record or near-record-sized hailstones were measured and the largest stone reached 3.0 in (7.6 cm) in diameter. Overall, the hail caused $2.81 billion in damage in 2010 Dollars and injured one person.