WASHOE COUNTY, Nev. — Nevada may not be the first place people think of when it comes to tornadoes, but the state has a documented history of twisters — even if they remain rare.
One of the more memorable examples happened in 2015, when a tornado touched down in Hawthorne. “We actually had an EF-1 that touched down in Hawthorne and stayed on the ground for roughly 10 minutes back in 2015,” said Dawn Johnson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Reno.
Nevada has also seen unusual tornado events tied to wildfire. In 2020, Johnson said the National Weather Service confirmed three tornadoes occurred during the Loyalton Fire. “The Loyalton Fire did produce legitimate tornadoes. It actually created its own weather and created what we consider pyrocumulonimbus clouds,” Johnson said…