A severe thunderstorm packing radar-detected rotation tore through Heber-Overgaard on Wednesday evening, and officials now believe it likely produced a tornado that injured at least one person, knocked down power poles and left the Navajo County town without electricity. The storm hit around 7 p.m. MST, triggering back-to-back warnings from the National Weather Service as it barreled across the small mountain community roughly 140 miles northeast of Phoenix.
The National Weather Service's Flagstaff office first warned at 6:36 p.m. MST that a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was 14 miles west of Heber-Overgaard, moving northeast at 30 mph, according to defconlevel.com. That warning identified the hazard simply as a tornado, sourced to radar-indicated rotation, and was in effect until 6:45 p.m. At 6:58 p.m., a severe thunderstorm warning placed the same storm over Heber-Overgaard, moving northeast at 40 mph, and added half-dollar-size hail to the threat list.
NWS meteorologist Justin Johndrow told KTAR News 92.3 FM that the storm likely produced a tornado and that his office had received unofficial reports of damage in the area. Radar data captured a powerful supercell with a tight rotational signature as it moved across the region, per the same report. A National Weather Service meteorologist also separately said the tornado likely touched down in the Heber-Overgaard area, though an official determination had not yet been made.
Damage, Injury and a Power Outage With No Timeline
Crews were still assessing the damage Thursday after the possible tornado ripped through Wednesday night, knocking down power poles and causing serious damage, according to azfamily.com. At least one person was hurt, the station reported, and Navopache Electric Cooperative said it had no estimated time for restoring power to the area. Residents described a sudden burst of violent wind and flying debris that lasted less than a minute, azfamily.com noted.
State Rep. Walt Blackman said the storm caused “considerable damage” in the Heber-Overgaard area, per the same report. Heber-Overgaard, home to about 3,000 residents, sits in Navajo County along the Mogollon Rim — terrain that puts it squarely in the path of the kind of rotating supercells that produced the warnings. A separate severe thunderstorm warning covering Navajo County ran from 6:58 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. MST, per govonestop.com, and listed Heber-Overgaard, Aripine, Mogollon Airpark and Twin Lake as impacted locations. That warning urged residents to seek shelter immediately in an interior room on the lowest floor of a well-built structure, since tornadoes can develop quickly from severe thunderstorms.
Tracking the Storm's Path Through Town
According to KTAR News, the probable tornado moved through the eastern side of Heber-Overgaard and likely passed near the airport, Worldmark Bison Ranch or Rocky Rim Cabins before moving into the surrounding Sitgreaves National Forest. The storm ultimately dissipated after heading north near and over Highway 277, the outlet reported. Dashcam video of a potential tornado was captured by Connor Croff, and community members shared Facebook comments and videos documenting the damage, per KTAR's reporting.
Weather photographer Mike Olbinski posted that Heber-Overgaard appeared to take a direct hit from a tornado, according to the same KTAR account. Officials cautioned that a formal tornado confirmation requires an in-person survey of the area, and that confirmation could take until Thursday. The National Weather Service said the tornado-producing storm threat would continue through Thursday until at least mid-afternoon.
An Unusually Active Setup for Arizona
The storm hit as parts of Arizona sat under the state's first tornado watch in 15 years on Wednesday, according to the New York Times. A powerful storm system moved through the state on Wednesday, bringing heavy rain, hail, high winds and tornado warnings, and it was expected to continue overnight, azcentral.com reported.
Tornadoes remain rare in Arizona, where the state averages about five a year, most occurring between July and October, per the Times. The most recent Arizona tornado rated EF-3 — the third-strongest category on the Enhanced Fujita scale — struck near Flagstaff on Oct. 6, 2010, during the state's worst tornado outbreak on record, when 11 tornadoes touched down in a single day. Nearly all of Arizona's tornadoes have fallen into the weakest Fujita categories, with only four ever rated EF-3, according to the same Times report.
