We are not immune to tornadoes in northern Nevada but they can happen every once in a while. The National Weather Service is looking into a possible tornado Tuesday just east of Hawthorne. Without a good view of the lower levels, it's hard to tell if it touched the ground or not. If not, then it's just a funnel cloud. Conditions have been right for strong thunderstorms to develop this week. Including, plenty of heat, some moisture, and a trigger such as a low moving in.
Our storms are usually quick, don't last very long, and can look different on radar compared to Tornado Alley too. In our area, sometimes tornadoes can be confused with a really tall dust devil as well. While there might be contact with the ground, in a dust devil, there is no cloud that it drops from or attaches itself to.
While straight line winds might not look as cool as tornadoes, they can be just as dangerous. We get wind speeds over 50 miles per hour all the time in our area. However, an EF1 can produce winds between 86 and 110 miles per hour. That's enough to do some moderate damage. If a tornado warning is issued that means it has either been confirmed in the field or detected on radar. If a warning is issued, the best thing to do is to go to the lowest level of your house such as the basement and cover your head, or go to an interior room, commonly a bathroom.
