MOUNTAIN HOME, Idaho — A tornado touched down Monday afternoon in a rural area east of Mountain Home, the National Weather Service confirmed.
Lesleen Kober sent KTVB a photo of the tornado, spotted near Bennett Hill, just northeast of Mountain Home. It was spotted on Monday afternoon, after a series of severe thunderstorms traveled through southern Idaho.
The National Weather Service in Boise issued a Tornado Warning earlier in the afternoon for a severe storm in this area. Radar imagery was showing rotation in the atmosphere, and the potential for a tornado to form.
The NWS confirmed that the tornado touched down about 14 miles east of Mountain Home at around 3:40 p.m.
Tornadoes are rare for the Gem State, but they are known to happen. Idaho will average between three and six tornadoes a year, and most will end up on the lower end of the scale of tornados - Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale, as an EF-0 or an EF-1 (the scale goes up to EF-5).
The NWS will now send out a team to survey the damage, to determine the strength of the wind and EF rating.
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