Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2005

F0 tornado, Wayside, Texas, June 11, 2005

This F0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Armstrong County on June 11, 2005, touching down at 7:30 PM CDT and reaching 25 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.

  1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

    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 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
F0
Date
June 11, 2005
Touchdown
7:30 PM CDT (00:30 UTC)
Path length
0.2 miles (0.3 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Armstrong County
Touchdown point
34.770, -101.520
Lift-off point
34.770, -101.520
Record number
899

What the Weather Service recorded

Severe thunderstorms across the central and western Texas panhandle produced large and damaging hail...damaging winds...and several small tornadoes during the afternoon and into the evening hours. Large hail damaged roofs and broke windows and skylights in the Amarillo area and damaged or destroyed crops in the southwest Texas panhandle. High winds blew down trees and damaged signs and trailers in the southern Texas panhandle. The tornadoes caused damage to crops and uprooted trees across the southern Texas panhandle. No injuries were reported from the severe weather.

A small rope tornado remained over open country and was verified by trained spotter's video. No damage or injuries were reported. The tornado path length and path width were estimated.

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

The warnings

25 minutes of warning. NWS AMA issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:05 UTC, 25 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
23:25 UTC00:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA
00:05 UTC01:00 UTCTornado WarningAMA
00:56 UTC02:00 UTCTornado WarningAMA
01:53 UTC03:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA
04:19 UTC05:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA

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, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:37 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.

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), 00:00Z

0.5 hours before the tornado, 54 km from the path. June 12, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Amarillo Airport, TX at 00:00Z on 2005-06-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1810 joules per kilogram, CIN -8, lifted condensation level 1129 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Amarillo Airport, TX at 00:00Z on 2005-06-12The 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 109 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 55 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
1810 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-8 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2464 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1129 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
55 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
109 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
174 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.1
Supercell composite
6.1
0-3 km lapse rate
7.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), 12:00Z

11.5 hours after it, 54 km from the path. June 12, 2005.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 2005-06-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 270 joules per kilogram, CIN -54, lifted condensation level 776 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 2005-06-12The 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 147 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 26 knots.193958Sfc1 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
270 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-54 J/kg
Surface CAPE
92 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
776 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
147 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
146 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Amarillo - Rick Husband Intl (AMA), 53 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
22:53 UTC7564100° 19 kt1008.1TS
23:42 UTC73.464.490° 14 kt221007.1
23:53 UTC736590° 13 kt1007.5
00:27 UTC73.462.6110° 15 kt1007.1TS
00:53 UTC7365 3 kt1008.8TS
01:22 UTC6864.4360° 13 kt1008.1-TSRA
01:53 UTC6661350° 18 kt231009.8TSRA

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

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 54 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:31 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
22:22 UTCTORNADO12 S CanyonRandall, TXTORNADO START TIME 0525 PM / END TIME ONGOING
22:22 UTCTORNADO12 S CanyonRandall, TXTORNADO START TIME 0525 PM / END TIME ONGOING...UNCONFIRMED
22:31 UTCHAIL 0.884 Wnw AmarilloPotter, TXTHE LOOP AND TASCOSA ROAD
22:34 UTCHAIL 0.754 Wnw AmarilloPotter, TXAT THE LOOP AND TASCOSA ROAD
22:39 UTCHAIL 1.754 Wnw AmarilloPotter, TXHALF DOLLAR SIZE TO GOLF BALL HAIL
22:43 UTCHAIL 0.757 S AmarilloRandall, TXHUNGATE AND INTERSTATE 27
22:45 UTCHAIL 18 S CanyonRandall, TX
23:38 UTCTORNADO11 Ne TuliaSwisher, TXBRIEF TOUCHDOWN
00:00 UTCTORNADO16 Ne TuliaSwisher, TXTORNADO SPOTTED 7 TO 8 MILES NORTHWEST OF VIGO PARK. TORNADO LASTED 2 MINUTES.
00:30 UTCTORNADO2 Ese WaysideArmstrong, TXTORNADO START TIME 0730 PM / END TIME 0735 PM
00:35 UTCTORNADO18 Ne TuliaSwisher, TXTORNADO REPORTED ON THE BRISCOE/ARMSTRONG COUNTY LINE
00:35 UTCTORNADO18 Ne TuliaSwisher, TXTORNADO REPORTED ON THE SWISHER/ARMSTRONG COUNTY LINE
00:36 UTCTORNADO 01 Se WaysideArmstrong, TXTORNADO START TIME 0736 PM / END TIME 0738 PM; SECOND TOUCHDOWN
00:45 UTCHAIL 112 Ssw ClaudeArmstrong, TX
00:50 UTCHAIL 0.754 Se AmarilloRandall, TX
00:55 UTCTSTM WND GST 607 Sw AmarilloRandall, TX
00:57 UTCTORNADO 03 E WaysideArmstrong, TXTORNADO START TIME 757 PM / END TIME UNKNOWN; RAINWRAPPED; RELAYED FROM WFO LUBBOCK
01:10 UTCTORNADO1 Se WaysideArmstrong, TXTORNADO START TIME 0810 PM / END TIME UNKNOWN
01:13 UTCHAIL 0.887 Sw AmarilloRandall, TX
01:16 UTCHAIL 1.756 Sw AmarilloRandall, TX
01:35 UTCTSTM WND DMG14 S ClaudeArmstrong, TXTREES DOWN
01:35 UTCHAIL 4.512 S ClaudeArmstrong, TX
01:55 UTCTSTM WND GST 605 Sw AmarilloRandall, TX
02:20 UTCHAIL 0.75CanyonRandall, TX
02:22 UTCHAIL 0.752 Nw CanyonRandall, TX
02:54 UTCHAIL 1Lake TanglewoodRandall, TX
03:10 UTCHAIL 2.54 Se Lake TanglewoodRandall, TX

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2005 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 11, 2005

23 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 112:10 PM CDTF0Santa Rosa, FL0.150$3,000
June 112:15 PM CDTF0Richland, ND0.250
June 112:20 PM CDTF0Saint Croix, WI0.325
June 112:40 PM CDTF0Polk, WI2.550
June 112:55 PM CDTF0Pierce, WI1.025
June 113:00 PM CDTF1Barron, WI5.050
June 113:04 PM CDTF1Saint Croix, WI8.050$3.6 million
June 113:43 PM CDTF0Saint Croix, WI0.525
June 114:23 PM CDTF0Chisago, MN0.120
June 114:25 PM CDTF0Pine, MN8.020
June 114:30 PM CDTF1Clay, MN0.2100
June 115:00 PM CDTF1Pine, MN6.025
June 115:20 PM CDTF0Pine, MN0.120
June 116:40 PM CDTF0Deaf Smith, TX0.550
June 116:48 PM CDTF0Traill, ND0.250
June 116:52 PM CDTF0Traill, ND0.250
June 117:00 PM CDTF0Swisher, TX0.440
June 117:05 PM CDTF0Swisher, TX0.330
June 117:28 PM CDTF0Deaf Smith, TX0.125
June 117:35 PM CDTF0Swisher, TX0.440
June 117:36 PM CDTF0Armstrong, TX0.125
June 117:57 PM CDTF0Armstrong, TX0.125
June 118:02 PM CDTF0Armstrong, TX0.225

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.