Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 1987

F2 tornado, Lee County, Texas, November 15, 1987

This F2 tornado ran 1.5 miles across Lee County on November 15, 1987, touching down at 11:30 AM CST and reaching 200 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 8, and did $500,000 to $5 million of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mphthis tornado

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
F2
Date
November 15, 1987
Touchdown
11:30 AM CST (17:30 UTC)
Path length
1.5 miles (2.4 km)
Path width
200 yards (183 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
8
Property damage
$500,000 to $5 million
County
Lee County
Touchdown point
30.180, -96.950
Record number
594

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:30 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Victoria Regiona, TX (KVCT), 12:00Z

5.5 hours before the tornado, 148 km from the path. November 15, 1987.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Victoria Regiona, TX at 12:00Z on 1987-11-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1923 joules per kilogram, CIN -5, lifted condensation level 599 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Victoria Regiona, TX at 12:00Z on 1987-11-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 231 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 45 knots.19395878Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1923 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-5 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2114 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
599 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
231 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
274 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.3
Supercell composite
12.5
0-3 km lapse rate
4.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Victoria Regiona, TX (KVCT), 00:00Z

6.5 hours after it, 148 km from the path. November 16, 1987.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Victoria Regiona, TX at 00:00Z on 1987-11-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 3472 joules per kilogram, CIN -5, lifted condensation level 728 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Victoria Regiona, TX at 00:00Z on 1987-11-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 90 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 35 knots.1939587897Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
3472 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-5 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3546 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
728 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
90 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
95 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.2
Supercell composite
6.3
0-3 km lapse rate
6.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1987 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of November 15, 1987

20 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
November 159:30 AM CSTF1Logan, OK0.130$5,000 to $50,000
November 1510:30 AM CSTF1Marshall, OK3.240$500 to $5,000
November 1511:30 AM CSTF1Atoka, OK1.040$5,000 to $50,000
November 1512:08 PM CSTF1Bell, TX3.0100$50,000 to $500,000
November 1512:15 PM CSTF2Burleson, TX10.0500212$500,000 to $5 million
November 1512:54 PM CSTF2Craig, OK1.5501$5,000 to $50,000
November 152:00 PM CSTF2Madison, TX10.020032$500,000 to $5 million
November 153:03 PM CSTF3Anderson, TX10.5250159$5 million to $50 million
November 153:45 PM CSTF3Cherokee, TX33.0500481$5 million to $50 million
November 154:45 PM CSTF2Smith, TX6.0300$50,000 to $500,000
November 155:30 PM CSTF1Gregg, TX0.210
November 155:33 PM CSTF2Upshur, TX7.09009$500,000 to $5 million
November 155:45 PM CSTF1Harrison, TX0.210
November 156:30 PM CSTF3Shelby, TX to LA48.05001116$5 million to $50 million
November 156:35 PM CSTF3Cass, TX12.2200$50,000 to $500,000
November 157:10 PM CSTF0Bowie, TX0.210
November 157:40 PM CSTF1Bossier Parish, LA0.573$500 to $5,000
November 157:50 PM CSTF0Calcasieu Parish, LA0.527$500 to $5,000
November 158:03 PM CSTF1Calcasieu Parish, LA0.527$500 to $5,000
November 158:15 PM CSTF0Webster Parish, LA0.210

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.