Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2001

F0 tornado, Goliad, Texas, November 15, 2001

Name: F0 tornado, Goliad, Texas, November 15, 2001
Start: 2001-11-16T02:10:00.000Z
Location: Goliad, Texas

This F0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Goliad County on November 15, 2001, touching down at 8:10 PM CST and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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.

F040 to 72 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
F2113 to 157 mph
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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: F0
Date: November 15, 2001
Touchdown: 8:10 PM CST (02:10 UTC)
Path length: 0.3 miles (0.5 km)
Path width: 100 yards (91 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
County: Goliad County
Touchdown point: 28.670, -97.380
Lift-off point: 28.670, -97.380
Record number: 351

What the Weather Service recorded

Sheriff reported Tornado along west side of Highway 183

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Issued (UTC)	Expired	Product	Office
23:00 UTC	23:30 UTC	Tornado Warning	CRP
23:17 UTC	02:15 UTC	Flash Flood Warning	CRP
23:55 UTC	01:00 UTC	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP
00:33 UTC	01:15 UTC	Tornado Warning	CRP
01:15 UTC	02:00 UTC	Tornado Warning	CRP
01:59 UTC	02:45 UTC	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP
02:11 UTC	03:00 UTC	Tornado Warning	CRP
02:13 UTC	05:15 UTC	Flash Flood Warning	CRP
02:59 UTC	03:50 UTC	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	CRP
05:29 UTC	07:15 UTC	Flash Flood Warning	CRP

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 00:45 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.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Corpus Christi, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Nov 15, 5:25 PM CST, 2 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 15, 5:25 PM CST, 2 hours 45 minutes before

COASTAL BEND FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
525 PM CST THU NOV 15 2001

NEW TORNADO WATCH COMING OUT WILL INCLUDE ALL BUT WEBB COUNTY...IN
EFFECT UNTIL 11PM.  STRONG VERT SHEAR CONTINUES.  GOT A LONG LIVED
TORNADIC SUPERCELL THAT HAS TRACKED FROM LIVE OAK COUNTY TO THE
GOLIAD COUNTY LINE. ADDITIONAL STORMS ARE DEVELOPING IN THE WARM
SECTOR ACROSS DUVAL COUNTY MAY QUICKLY GO SEVERE.  ZONE UPDATES
COMING SOON

75

.CRP...FFA AND TORNADO WATCH TXZ229>234-240>247.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Nov 15, 5:37 PM CST, 2 hours 33 minutes before

TXZ229>234-240>247-160500-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX
537 PM CST THU NOV 15 2001

...A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 11 PM CST...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WATCH VALID UNTIL
1100 PM CST THURSDAY EVENING. THE WATCH INCLUDES THE COUNTIES OF
ARANSAS...BEE...CALHOUN...DUVAL...GOLIAD...JIM WELLS...KLEBERG...LA
SALLE...LIVE OAK...MCMULLEN...NUECES...REFUGIO...SAN PATRICIO AND
VICTORIA.

SOME CITIES INCLUDED IN THE WATCH ARE ALICE...ARANSAS
PASS...BEEVILLE...BENAVIDES...CORPUS CHRISTI...COTULLA...ENCINAL...
GEORGE WEST...GOLIAD...INGLESIDE...KINGSVILLE...MATHIS...PORT
ARANSAS...PORT LAVACA...PORT OCONNOR...PORTLAND...REFUGIO...
ROBSTOWN...ROCKPORT...SEADRIFT...SINTON...SKIDMORE...THREE RIVERS...
TILDEN AND VICTORIA.

A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR TORNADOES TO OCCUR
IN OR NEAR THE WATCH AREA. IF TORNADOES DO IN FACT DEVELOP OR ARE
SPOTTED...THEN A TORNADO WARNING WILL BE ISSUED.

EMERGENCY MANAGERS AND SPOTTER GROUPS SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR POSSIBLE
ACTIVATION. RESIDENTS ACROSS SOUTH TEXAS SHOULD REMAIN ALERT AND BE
READY TO QUICKLY ACT IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES YOUR AREA. IF
SEVERE WEATHER THREATENS YOUR AREA...THEN MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM
AND LAY DOWN ON THE FLOOR. IF CAUGHT OUTSIDE...LAY FLAT DOWN ON THE
GROUND...PREFERABLY IN A DITCH OR OTHER LOW SPOT. NEVER TRY TO OUTRUN
SEVERE WEATHER.

FOR THE LATEST WEATHER FORECASTS AND WARNINGS...CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT
HTTP://WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/CRP

GW

Local storm report, Nov 15, 5:47 PM CST, 2 hours 23 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI,TX
547 PM CST THU NOV 15 2001

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0542 PM    5 W SAN DIEGO             TX   1.75 INCH HAIL
11/15/01   DUVAL

JM

Local storm report, Nov 15, 6:30 PM CST, 1 hour 40 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI,TX
630 PM CST THU NOV 15 2001

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0625 PM    PETTUS                    TX   0.25 INCH HAIL
11/15/01   BEE                            SHERIFF OFFICE REPORT.

LAMARRE

Local storm report, Nov 15, 6:50 PM CST, 1 hour 20 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI,TX
650 PM CST THU NOV 15 2001

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0645 PM    MINERAL                   TX   FLOODING
11/15/01   BEE                            ALL ROADS CLOSED WITH
                                          HIGH WATER RESCUE
                                          OPERATIONS IN PROGRESS
                                          BY VOLUNTEER FIRE
                                          DEPARTMENT.

LAMARRE

Local storm report, Nov 15, 7:13 PM CST, 57 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI,TX
713 PM CST THU NOV 15 2001

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0705 PM    5 SE CHARCO               TX   .75 INCH HAIL
11/15/01   GOLIAD                         SHERIFF REPORT.

Local storm report, Nov 15, 8:04 PM CST, 6 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI,TX
804 PM CST THU NOV 15 2001

TIME(CST)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0625 PM    PETTUS                    TX   1.00 INCH HAIL
11/15/01   BEE                            SHERIFF REPORT.

BML

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.

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), 00:00Z

2.2 hours before the tornado, 105 km from the path. November 16, 2001.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

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: 2644 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -1 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 3651 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 634 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 41 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 156 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 221 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 3.0
Supercell composite: 15.4
0-3 km lapse rate: 6.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), 12:00Z

9.8 hours after it, 105 km from the path. November 16, 2001.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

Mixed-layer CAPE: 311 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -31 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 132 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 677 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 53 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 224 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 267 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.2
0-3 km lapse rate: 5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Corpus Christi radar (KCRP), 99 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:09 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2001 tornado in Texas Every tornado in Texas since 1950 Warnings in force in Texas now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of November 15, 2001

22 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
November 15	3:53 AM CST	F0	Bee, TX	0.3	100
November 15	5:05 AM CST	F0	Kendall, TX	1.2	50		$10,000
November 15	5:20 AM CST	F0	Kendall, TX	4.0	200	2	$100,000
November 15	9:30 AM CST	F0	Blanco, TX	3.0	50		$3,000
November 15	9:45 AM CST	F0	Hays, TX	2.0	100	1	$50,000
November 15	10:20 AM CST	F0	Hays, TX	2.0	50		$50,000
November 15	12:55 PM CST	F0	Karnes, TX	0.1	20
November 15	1:35 PM CST	F1	Karnes, TX	2.5	200		$120,000
November 15	2:46 PM CST	F1	Live Oak, TX	0.6	200
November 15	3:20 PM CST	F1	Hays, TX	3.5	500	3	$500,000
November 15	3:21 PM CST	F1	Hays, TX	3.5	500	3	$500,000
November 15	3:50 PM CST	F1	Travis, TX	2.5	800		$100,000
November 15	3:53 PM CST	F0	Bee, TX	0.3	100
November 15	3:53 PM CST	F1	Bee, TX	0.2	50
November 15	4:36 PM CST	F1	Bee, TX	0.5	200
November 15	4:45 PM CST	F0	Travis, TX	2.0	30		$30,000
November 15	4:50 PM CST	F0	Williamson, TX	3.5	30
November 15	5:30 PM CST	F1	Travis, TX	3.0	500		$80,000
November 15	5:44 PM CST	F0	Travis, TX	4.5	50		$10,000
November 15	6:02 PM CST	F0	Travis, TX	0.3	30
November 15	6:35 PM CST	F0	Guadalupe, TX	1.1	50		$50,000
November 15	7:15 PM CST	F1	Goliad, TX	0.6	300

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.