Weather service confirms last week's storms produced a second Utah tornado

JENSEN, Uintah County — A severe thunderstorm system that produced a rare mountain tornado in Davis County last week also produced a small tornado near the Utah-Colorado border as it passed through the state, federal meteorologists have confirmed.

About 5 p.m. on Friday, a "brief and weak" tornado touched down between Jensen and Dinosaur, Colorado, the National Weather Service's Grand Junction, Colorado office wrote in a preliminary incident report on Tuesday. The office handles weather alerts and reports within eastern Utah.

"The tornado did not cause any damage and lasted a few minutes," the agency wrote in its report. "The tornado was witnessed by several members of the public."

Meteorologists rated it an EF-U on the Enhanced Fujita Scale because of the lack of damage and other limitations, meaning that its peak wind speeds, path length and other characteristics are unknown.

The agency had issued a severe thunderstorm warning and flash flood warning for the area Friday evening, but no tornado warning.

It touched down approximately three hours after a much larger tornado formed over in the mountains east of Fruit Heights on Friday. The twister knocked down numerous trees and snapped some in half, leaving a path of destruction about 100 to 200 yards wide and well over a mile long.

KSL meteorologists have toured the site and estimate it could have reached peak wind speeds of 100 mph or more, which would register it at least an EF-1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale or higher.

"You could tell that this thing was packing quite a bit of wind, and there was quite a bit of debris within the wind because the trees were kind of scarred up and tangled up," said KSL meteorologist Matt Johnson.

Weather service meteorologists in Salt Lake City's office told KSL on Monday that they expect to release a preliminary report by next week, as they continue to review the damage.

Friday's tornadoes double the number that have been confirmed from storm rotation this year, following one that touched down in Rich County in April and another that touched down in Tooele County last month. Both of those were rated as EF-1 in strength, peaking at 100 mph.

Utah also had one "firenado" this year, which formed from fire activity at the Widemouth 2 Fire as it burned in Millard County in July.

The state typically averages two tornadoes per year, but the 2026 count now matches what was reported last year. Meteorologists believe that improved radar technology, more video recording accessibility and easier access to remote places may help find tornadoes as they form.

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