TUCSON – For the second time this month, a tornado has touched down in Southern Arizona.
News 4 Tucson viewer Laura Whitbeck Patino captured this twister in Western Cochise County late Saturday afternoon. In a Facebook post, Patino says the tornado was spotted near highway 90 between Benson and Whetstone around 4 PM.
The National Weather Service officially confirmed the tornado touchdown Sunday evening, using Patino’s photo and radar velocity images.
According to the Tornado History Project, this is the 16th confirmed tornado in Cochise County since 1950. The last reported tornado in Cochise County was on September 22nd, 2015 near Dragoon.
Much like the July 14th tornado in Marana, this appears to be landspout tornado. Rather than the tornado dropping from the base of the storm, the rotation started on the ground. Then, the ground rotation was sucked into the storm from an updraft.
On average, Arizona typically sees four tornadoes a year. Many of these occur in the northern portion of the state.
by Jeff Beamish
July 31, 2017
