- A rare EF-1 tornado touched down in northern Utah last weekend.
- The brief tornado snapped trees, reaching 100 mph winds and a 100-yard width.
- Only two other tornadoes have hit Rich County in 76 years; this marks first in over 60 years.
GARDEN CITY — A series of severe thunderstorms that passed through northern Utah last weekend produced a rare tornado that snapped trees within its short path.
The tornado touched down near the Rich-Cache county line, approximately 1 mile south of the intersection between U.S. 89 and Sink Road, about 4 miles southwest of Garden City, shortly before 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, the National Weather Service confirmed on Thursday, after investigating the site and radar data.
It only remained on the ground for two minutes, but it reached a width of 100 yards — the size of a football field — as it carved a path nearly a half-mile long that crossed the county border. It also reached estimated wind speeds of 100 mph, which registered as EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale.
No injuries or property damage were reported. Tree damage helped confirm the rating within the agency's preliminary report.
"The tornado promptly produced EF- 1 damage, snapping a few softwood trees. The tornado continued tracking north along the terrain into Cache County, increasing in width and producing a notably wider swath of softwood tree damage consistent with an EF-1 rating," the weather service wrote.
Darin Brooks, a Utah storm spotter, shared photos and videos of downed trees with KSL Weather earlier this week. Some large trees were snapped in half, a few feet from their base, while others were toppled over.
Radars also indicated some rotation consistent with tornadic activity in that area, KSL meteorologist Matt Johnson said, before the National Weather Service confirmed the tornado.
Tornadoes are rare, but not unheard of in Utah. There were five in Utah last year, including a fire-induced twister that occurred in the middle of the Deer Creek Fire in San Juan County. That reached EF-2 size even without storm rotation.
The National Weather Service has data dating back to 1950 that show the state averages a few tornadoes every year. While these are often scattered throughout the state, they're less common in Rich County — though that's likely partially due to its sparser, more spread-out population.
Only two other tornadoes have been reported to have touched down in the county over the past 76 years, the last of which was reported in 1965. Interestingly enough, both previous events also reached EF-1 strength.
The weather service thanked Cache and Rich county emergency managers and local storm spotters for assisting in the investigation that determined Rich County's latest one.
