QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. — Many Valley residents woke up Friday morning with a tornado warning on their phones.
A storm moved through the Valley early in the morning, tossing trees, trampolines, roof shingles and other debris. As people cleaned up the mess Mother Nature left behind, several people said it seemed as though a tornado moved through.
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And if you live in the East Valley, you may be correct.
The National Weather Service in Phoenix confirmed, based on radar and storm damage, that two tornadoes formed in the area of Queen Creek. A third was confirmed in the area of northeast Phoenix/Paradise Valley.
According to the storm report, the tornadoes occurred a little before 5 a.m. The tornado in the Paradise Valley area did the most damage and was estimated to be EF-1.
EF-0 to EF-1 tornadoes have wind speeds of 65 to 110 mph.
The last time we saw three tornadoes in a day in Maricopa County was in 1992, NWS says.
Tornadoes do happen in Arizona, though this seems like a bit much. NWS says we saw 247 tornadoes from 1950 to 2017, an average of about four per year. But they're usually pretty weak.