Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2006

F0 tornado, Boyd to Aurora, Texas, April 28, 2006

From Boyd to Aurora, this F0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Wise County on April 28, 2006, touching down at 9:38 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
April 28, 2006
Touchdown
9:38 PM CDT (02:38 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Wise County
Touchdown point
33.020, -97.670
Lift-off point
33.020, -97.670
Record number
435

What the Weather Service recorded

No damage was reported.

A tornado reportedly touched down along FM 4668 just west of Aurora. Trained spotters reported damage to a home under construction and to several trees. Volunteer firefighters also reported seeing debris.

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

The warnings

7 minutes of warning. NWS FWD issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:31 UTC, 7 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:48 UTC and running to 07:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
19:15 UTC19:56 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWD
23:38 UTC02:45 UTCFlash Flood WarningFWD
23:48 UTC07:00 UTCTornado WatchFWD
02:16 UTC03:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWD
02:31 UTC03:15 UTCTornado WarningFWD
02:41 UTC05:45 UTCFlash Flood WarningFWD
05:39 UTC07:45 UTCFlash Flood WarningFWD

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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:00 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.

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 00:00Z

2.6 hours before the tornado, 41 km from the path. April 29, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2006-04-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 446 joules per kilogram, CIN -52, lifted condensation level 654 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, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2006-04-29The 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 532 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 74 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
446 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-52 J/kg
Surface CAPE
316 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
654 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
74 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
532 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
752 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.8
Supercell composite
8.7
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 12:00Z

9.4 hours after it, 41 km from the path. April 29, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2006-04-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1 joules per kilogram, CIN -305, lifted condensation level 667 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, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2006-04-29The 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 12 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 85 knots.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
1 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-305 J/kg
Surface CAPE
6 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
667 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
85 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
12 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
61 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Bridgeport (XBP), 23 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
00:45 UTC6866.2110° 8 kt1005.8BR
01:05 UTC6868120° 7 kt1005.4BR
01:25 UTC6868110° 6 kt1004.7BR
01:45 UTC6868100° 5 kt1004.7BR
02:05 UTC686860° 4 kt1004.7BR
02:25 UTC686880° 9 kt1004.4TSRA
02:45 UTC62.660.8210° 13 kt201006.8+TSRA
03:07 UTC62.662.6170° 6 kt1007.1-VCTSRA
03:25 UTC62.662.6190° 6 kt1007.1
03:45 UTC62.662.6170° 3 kt1006.8
04:05 UTC62.662.60° 0 kt1006.1
04:25 UTC62.662.6320° 6 kt1006.8VCTS

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

The radar

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 60 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:38 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
01:55 UTCHAIL 0.88GrafordPalo Pinto, TXNICKEL HAIL IN GRAFORD AND 50 MPH WINDS
02:23 UTCTSTM WND GST 607 Nne CoolParker, TXESTIMATED 60 MPH WINDS IN NORTHWEST PARKER COUNTY
02:35 UTCTSTM WND GST 605 Sse BridgeportWise, TX60 MPH WIND GUST IN COTTONDALE
03:25 UTCHAIL 11 W PonderDenton, TXQUARTER SIZED HAIL NEAR PONDER
03:37 UTCHAIL 2.753 Nne PonderDenton, TXBASEBALL SIZED HAIL BETWEEN PONDER AND KRUM
03:39 UTCHAIL 1KrumDenton, TXQUARTER SIZED HAIL IN KRUM
03:39 UTCHAIL 2.75PonderDenton, TXBASEBALL SIZE HAIL IN PONDER

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2006 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 28, 2006

9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 283:40 PM CDTF0LaMoure, ND0.425
April 284:04 PM CDTF0LaMoure, ND0.560
April 284:35 PM CDTF0Sargent, ND2.550
April 285:25 PM CDTF0Stonewall, TX0.150
April 286:02 PM CDTF0Greer, OK0.440
April 289:18 PM CDTF0Lampasas, TX0.125
April 289:45 PM CDTF1Wise, TX0.440$20,000
April 2811:05 PM CDTF0Denton, TX0.210
April 2812:20 AM CDTF1McLennan, TX0.850$200,000

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.