NWS confirms 3 Valley tornadoes from Friday morning storms

PHOENIX — Not one, not two, but three tornadoes touched down around the Valley early Friday morning.

“We, so far, have confirmed three separate tornadoes across the Valley,” National Weather Service Senior Meteorologist Larry Hopper told KTAR News 92.3 FM Friday night.

“One of which was in north-central Phoenix and two of which were down in the far southeastern portions of the Valley.”

According to a number of tweets from the National Weather Service, the first twister touched down around 3:58 a.m. in Paradise Valley just off State Route 51.

Third tornado confirmed from this the storms this morning for the PV area. #azwx pic.twitter.com/LAzlE3Rz30

— NWS Phoenix (@NWSPhoenix) November 30, 2019

The tornado was estimated as an EF1, with trees up to three-feet in diameter knocked over, and roofs of houses damaged and even removed sporadically across a seven-mile area.

Not an hour later, around 4:41 a.m., another tornado formed in the Valley, this time near Val Vista Drive and Loop 202 in Gilbert.

We’ve been busy doing research on the weather from this morning…with much more to do…but here is the local storm report for one confirmed tornado (based on radar and storm damage). #azwx pic.twitter.com/OdG0qIcJsf

— NWS Phoenix (@NWSPhoenix) November 30, 2019

The twister caused damage to small trees in two shopping center parking lots.

The third tornado recorded Friday morning touched down around 4:51 a.m. in the Queen Creek area near Rittenhouse and Ellsworth roads.

Second storm report confirming a second tornado in the Queen Creek area this morning. #azwx pic.twitter.com/Pi0tLnjG6R

— NWS Phoenix (@NWSPhoenix) November 30, 2019

Per the National Weather Service, the tornado knocked down power poles and multiple trees as well as caused damage to roofs.

While tornadoes aren’t a regular occurrence in the state, there’s usually a handful touching down each year.

“Arizona typically sees about four or five tornadoes a year on average and Phoenix has had their fair share of those,” Hopper said.

“We last had a tornado back in late September in northern Maricopa County and we had another tornado last year back in October near Glendale Airport.”

We were asked a question if the area has seen multiple tornado days before. Here they are!…Data complied from local storm reports from SPC. #azwx pic.twitter.com/uE3VrgeX5R

— NWS Phoenix (@NWSPhoenix) November 30, 2019

KTAR News’ John Roller contributed to this report.

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