Tornado, Hardin
- When
- October 11, 9:30 AM CST to 9:32 AM CST
- Where
- Hardin County, 7 mi S of Saratoga
- Rating
- F0
- Path length
- 1 mi
- Path width
- 10 yd
- Property damage
- $10,000
- Reported by
- NWS STORM SURVEY
- Coordinates
- 30.183, -94.517
Tornado in Texas, October 11, 2001
A weak tornado passed across Highway 105 between Batosn and Sour Lake, resulting in trees and power lines blown down, and minor roof damage to a few homes and barns in the area.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $10,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS LCH wrote it up.
A weak tornado passed across Highway 105 between Batosn and Sour Lake, resulting in trees and power lines blown down, and minor roof damage to a few homes and barns in the area.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Lake Charles, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 11, 8:36 AM CST, 54 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Oct 11, 8:36 AM CST, 54 minutes before
SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA AND SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAKE CHARLES LA 936 AM CDT THU OCT 11 2001 .THIS AFTERNOON... SEVERE WEATHER MAY BE A PROBLEM TODAY. A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR SOUTHEAST TEXAS UNTIL 1 PM CDT. .MORNING SOUNDING... A QUICK PERUSAL REVEALS AN UNSTABLE ENVIRONMENT. I MODIFIED THE SOUNDING USING THE FORECAST MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 82 DEG F. LIFTING THE SURFACE PARCEL...THE ALGORITHM COMPUTES CAPES NEAR 3000 J PER KG...BOUNDED BELOW BY THE LFC (1.7 KFT) AND ABOVE BY EQUILIBRIUM LEVEL (48.5 KFT). MARGINAL HAIL THREAT...THE FREEZING LEVEL IS RATHER HIGH AT 14.0 KFT. THE PARCEL FREEZING LEVEL IS EVEN HIGHER AT 17.5 KFT. SUPERCOOLED LIQUID WATER WILL EXIST OVER A 3.5 KFT LAYER. ALSO...MINOR COLD AIR ADVECTION IS NOTED AT MID TROPOSPHERE (AROUND 700 MB). LOOKING AT PRECIPITABLE WATER (PW)...I COMPUTE ANOTHER STABILITY MEASURE. USING THE SOLOT METHOD...I COMPUTE PW FOR THE SURFACE-700 MB LAYER AT 1.4 INCHES. THE TOTAL PW IS 2.0 INCHES. THE PW DEFICIT IS 0.6 INCHES...MOST OF THE WATER (IN THE FORM OF VAPOR) IS IN THE LOWEST LAYERS. OTHER INDICES WORTH NOTING...THE K-INDEX IS 41 (SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS). THE TOTAL-TOTALS IS 52 (FEW SEVERE STORMS). THE SWEAT INDEX IS 400 (A FEW TORNADIC STORMS POSSIBLE). FINAL NOTE...THE ALGORITHM COMPUTES STORM MOTION AT 240 DEG AT 15 KT. THIS IS THE SHEAR WISE MOTION. SEVERE WEATHER WILL LIKELY FOLLOW CROSS SHEAR MOTION. THE MOTION OF THE SLOWER RIGHT MOVER IS 150 DEG ...WHILE THE MOTION OF THE FASTER LEFT MOVER IS 330 DEG. .PREVAILING NUMBERS... AEX 78/69/80/64/69/45 875830 BPT 81/72/82/67/70/51 764830 LCH 82/72/82/68/70/50 765840 LFT 80/72/82/69/70/50 776750 .LCH...NONE. TRARES
The radar
The Houston radar (KHGX), 96 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 15:32 UTC.
Event by event
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornadoes and Damaging Winds in Texas, October 11, 2001
- Flash Flood in Arkansas, October 11, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Louisiana, October 11, 2001
- Tornado in Louisiana, October 11, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Louisiana, October 11, 2001
- Tornadoes and Flash Flood in Mississippi, October 11, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Texas, October 11, 2001
- Flash Flood in Arkansas, October 11, 2001
- Flash Flood and Damaging Wind in Mississippi, October 11, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Texas, October 11, 2001
- High Wind in Alaska, October 11, 2001
- Heavy Snow in Montana, October 11 to 12, 2001
More
Every storm in Texas in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Texas, 2001Warnings in Texas, October 2001
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5271273.