Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2001

F1 tornado, Beaumont, Texas, October 13, 2001

This F1 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Jefferson County on October 13, 2001, touching down at 4:55 AM CDT and reaching 15 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $1.0 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 mphthis tornado

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

  3. 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.

  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
F1
Date
October 13, 2001
Touchdown
4:55 AM CDT (09:55 UTC)
Path length
2.0 miles (3.2 km)
Path width
15 yards (14 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$1.0 million
County
Jefferson County
Touchdown point
30.050, -94.130
Lift-off point
30.070, -94.120
Record number
484

What the Weather Service recorded

A tornado touched down near Cardinal Drive and damage several warehouses and businesses, before hitting a school gym.

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)ExpiredProductOffice
19:49 UTC20:45 UTCTornado WarningLCH
09:50 UTC10:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLCH

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 21:08 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.

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 00:00Z

9.9 hours before the tornado, 89 km from the path. October 13, 2001.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 2001-10-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2537 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 640 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 2001-10-13The 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 70 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 37 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
2537 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3861 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
640 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
70 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
102 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.9
Supercell composite
6.4
0-3 km lapse rate
6.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 12:00Z

2.1 hours after it, 89 km from the path. October 13, 2001.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 2001-10-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1582 joules per kilogram, CIN -39, lifted condensation level 816 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, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 2001-10-13The 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 258 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 42 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
1582 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-39 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1714 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
816 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
258 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
328 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.8
Supercell composite
11.7
0-3 km lapse rate
5.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Beaumont - Port Arthur (BPT), 15 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
07:59 UTC78.877170° 14 kt1001.7-RA
08:03 UTC78.875.2170° 16 kt1001.7-RA
08:17 UTC78.875.2180° 14 kt191001-RA
08:21 UTC78.875.2180° 12 kt191001VCTS -RA
08:28 UTC78.877170° 13 kt1000.7-RA
08:53 UTC7877170° 19 kt291000.3
09:16 UTC75.273.4190° 14 kt23999.7+RA BR
09:18 UTC75.273.4160° 15 kt23999+TSRA BR
09:23 UTC7775.2160° 22 kt27999-TSRA BR
09:28 UTC7775.2170° 19 kt27999.3-TSRA
09:53 UTC7875170° 21 kt27999
10:05 UTC7773.4180° 19 kt271000VCTS
10:20 UTC73.469.8280° 16 kt271002-RA
10:25 UTC69.866.2320° 20 kt271001.4VCTS +RA BR
10:28 UTC66.264.4330° 24 kt321001.4VCTS +RA BR
10:31 UTC64.464.4330° 21 kt321002.4+TSRA BR
10:37 UTC64.462.6330° 23 kt311002.4+TSRA BR
10:44 UTC62.662.6330° 25 kt361002.4+TSRA BR
10:53 UTC6362340° 20 kt321003VCTS RA BR
11:11 UTC62.660.8350° 19 kt291003+RA BR
11:21 UTC62.660.8350° 18 kt301003.4+RA BR
11:53 UTC6360350° 23 kt321003.4-RA

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2001 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of October 13, 2001

31 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
October 132:39 AM CDTF1Trinity, TX0.530$10,000
October 132:45 AM CDTF1Polk, TX0.325$30,000
October 135:05 AM CDTF1Beauregard Parish, LA0.510$50,000
October 137:30 AM CDTF1Baldwin, AL0.130$50,000
October 137:35 AM CDTF0Baldwin, AL0.120$10,000
October 138:39 AM CDTF0Rankin, MS0.230
October 138:45 AM CDTF1Acadia Parish, LA0.510$120,000
October 138:45 AM CDTF0Rankin, MS0.230$10,000
October 139:00 AM CDTF1Vermilion Parish, LA0.510$70,000
October 1310:25 AM CDTF0Copiah, MS0.230
October 1310:30 AM CDTF0Lincoln, MS1.040$30,000
October 1312:55 PM CDTF0Marion, MS0.225$1,000
October 131:00 PM CDTF0Baldwin, AL0.230$20,000
October 131:25 PM CDTF3Baldwin, AL1.0440$250,000
October 131:30 PM CDTF0Lamar, MS0.225$1,000
October 131:35 PM CDTF1Marengo, AL7.1450$40,000
October 131:40 PM CDTF0Baldwin, AL0.230$10,000
October 131:44 PM CDTF2Baldwin, AL0.7200$200,000
October 131:58 PM CDTF0Jones, MS0.225
October 132:20 PM CDTF0Jones, MS0.225$30,000
October 132:38 PM CDTF1Perry, AL1.550$110,000
October 132:45 PM CDTF0Baldwin, AL0.330$30,000
October 133:05 PM CDTF0Clarke, MS0.230$1,000
October 133:40 PM CDTF0Lauderdale, MS0.325$3,000
October 133:59 PM CDTF1Lowndes, MS0.230$80,000
October 134:40 PM CDTF1Santa Rosa, FL0.550$620,000
October 135:35 PM CDTF0Escambia, FL2.0200$250,000
October 136:20 PM CDTF0Plaquemines Parish, LA0.320$10,000
October 1310:15 PM CDTF1Walton, FL1.0100$750,000
October 1311:00 PM CDTF1Washington, FL2.7100$300,000
October 131:30 AM EDTF1Franklin, FL0.250$330,000

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.