Study: Climate change may intensify tornadoes
Tornadoes destroyed multiple homes in southeastern Utah over the weekend, but authorities said there were no reports of people injured.
Three homes in the area were demolished in the storm, the Navajo Police Department and Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren said in separate social media posts. Although no injuries were reported, police said an unknown number of livestock and pets had been reported missing.
In this photo released by the Navajo Police Department, a tornado funnel is seen Sat., Sept. 13, 2025, northeast of Montezuma Creek, Utah.
Navajo Police Department via AP
The police department shared several dramatic images that showed a tornado that formed early Saturday afternoon near Montezuma Creek, which is in far-southeastern Utah near the state's border with Colorado.
In those images, the dark column is surrounded by dark clouds and traveling over what appears to be uninhabited land.
In this photo released by the Navajo Police Department, a tornado funnel is seen Sat., Sept. 13, 2025, northeast of Montezuma Creek, Utah.
Navajo Police Department via AP
Another image, shared later, also showed the remains of a home that had been completely destroyed.
Navajo Nation is a 27,000-square-mile reservation stretches into Arizona, New Mexico and Utah and is the largest of any Native American tribe.
UPDATE: TORNADO RECOVERY EFFORTS As of 8:10 p.m., on Sunday, Sept., 14, 2025, the Aneth Chapter House provided the...
Posted by Navajo Police Department on Sunday, September 14, 2025Tornadoes are pretty unusual in that part of Utah, meteorologist Kris Sanders with the National Weather Service's office in Grand Junction, Colorado, told the Associated Press. Sanders said that the weather service had only confirmed two there since 1950.
Two tornadoes developed from a storm in San Juan County, in southeastern Utah, over the span of an hour starting around 12:35 p.m. Saturday, according Sanders.
The paths of the tornadoes that touched down near Montezuma Creek likely covered less than 10 miles, but the weather service hadn't yet determined their exact tracks or wind speeds, Sanders said by telephone. A survey may be conducted Monday, he said Sunday.
