CEDAR CITY – The National Weather Service has confirmed the tornado that hit the town of Panguitch Thursday night was an EF-1.
The tornado came down just before 7 p.m., damaging several businesses and homes, according to Garfield County Sheriff Danny Perkins.
The tornado struck a building located at 609 N. Main Street and damaged a home on the north side of the building, according to a news release issued by Garfield County authorities Thursday night.
The tornado then traveled in a northeast direction causing damage to a home located at 795 N. 250 East.
No injuries were reported.
There were no new reports of any additional damage Friday evening, Perkins said.
At around the same time there was also a tornado reported in Riverdale in the Washington Terrace area of Weber County, said NWS meteorologist Monica Traphagan. It was also confirmed as an EF-1.
Tornadoes are registered on a scale between zero to five based on both the intensity of the winds and damage left behind, Traphagan said.
In the case of the Panguitch tornado, winds reached as high as 110 mph with a damage width of 25 yards.
The two tornadoes Thursday night were the second and third ones reported this year in Utah. The first tornado, also reported as an EF-1, touched down near Panguitch less than a month ago on Aug. 26.
Generally, Traphagan said, Utah averages about one tornado a year – most of them register as an EF-0. The last tornado to register above a zero hit Manti in 2002.
“Three tornadoes in Utah in a one year period is pretty uncommon and all of them registering above a zero is even more uncommon,” Traphagan said.
Tornadoes across the country register on an average between a one and a two. It is extremely rare when a tornado is above that, she added.
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