Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2006

F0 tornado, Fritch, Texas, August 27, 2006

This F0 tornado ran 1.5 miles across Hutchinson and Carson counties on August 27, 2006, touching down at 8:42 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
August 27, 2006
Touchdown
8:42 PM CDT (01:42 UTC)
Path length
1.5 miles (2.4 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Counties
Hutchinson and Carson counties
Touchdown point
35.630, -101.620
Lift-off point
35.600, -101.570
Record number
843

What the Weather Service recorded

Severe thunderstorms produced hail...damaging winds...and a tornado during the evening hours across the central and southcentral Texas panhandle. The worst damage sustained by the high winds were just north of Dumas and also in and near Fritch. No injuries were reported.

The Emergency Manager from Hutchinson county observed the formation of a tornado near the southwestern corner of Hutchinson county which moved into extreme northwestern Carson county. The tornado was also confirmed by a second observer. The tornado path length and path width were estimated. No damage or injuries were reported as the tornado remained over open country.

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
01:34 UTC02:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA
01:43 UTC02:04 UTCTornado 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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:54 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

1.7 hours before the tornado, 44 km from the path. August 28, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Amarillo Airport, TX at 00:00Z on 2006-08-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1124 joules per kilogram, CIN -7, lifted condensation level 1410 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, Amarillo Airport, TX at 00:00Z on 2006-08-28The 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 8 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 31 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
1124 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-7 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2464 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1410 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
1 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
8 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
71 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
1.1
0-3 km lapse rate
7.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

10.3 hours after it, 44 km from the path. August 28, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 2006-08-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -254, lifted condensation level 1536 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, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 2006-08-28The 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 8 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 20 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-254 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1536 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
8 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
76 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Borger/Hutchinson (BGD), 21 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
23:51 UTC8165110° 6 kt1014.9
00:51 UTC796680° 6 kt1015.2
01:51 UTC776640° 11 kt1015.6
02:51 UTC7068170° 13 kt1016.6-RA
03:04 UTC71.666.2150° 11 kt1015.6-RA

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

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 44 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:40 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
00:27 UTCHAIL 0.88CactusMoore, TXAT THE COTTON GIN ON U.S. HIGHWAY 287
00:39 UTCHAIL 0.8810 N DumasMoore, TX
00:43 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 N DumasMoore, TX4-14 INCH TREE BRANCHES DOWN, WILLOW TREE UPROOTED, IRRIGATION PIVOTS BLOWN OVER.
00:43 UTCTSTM WND GST 804 N DumasMoore, TX
00:45 UTCHAIL 0.885 Nw DumasMoore, TX
01:42 UTCTORNADO1 Wsw FritchHutchinson, TXEMERGENCY MANAGER OBSERVED TORNADO FORM NEAR SOUTHWESTERN CORNER OF HUTCHINSON COUNTY AND MOVE INTO CARSON COUNTY. CONFIRMED BY SECOND OBSERVER.
01:46 UTCTORNADO2 Ssw FritchCarson, TXEND POINT OF TORNADO PATH REPORTED BY HUTCHINSON COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGER THAT BEGAN AT 842 PM AND MOVED INTO CARSON COUNTY BEFORE DISSIPATING AT 846 PM. CONFIRMED BY SECOND OBSERVER
01:50 UTCTSTM WND DMGFritchHutchinson, TXMETAL ROOF COMPLETELY TORN OFF OF 30X30 BUILDING IN DOUBLE DIAMOND SUBDIVISION
01:50 UTCTSTM WND DMGFritchHutchinson, TXNO POWER IN FRITCH - ONE LARGE TREE UPROOTED
01:50 UTCHAIL 1FritchHutchinson, TXNO POWER IN FRITCH - ONE LARGE TREE UPROOTED
02:32 UTCTSTM WND GST 609 E AmarilloPotter, TX
02:33 UTCTSTM WND GST 6010 E AmarilloPotter, TX
02:33 UTCTSTM WND GST 6011 E AmarilloCarson, TX
02:45 UTCTSTM WND GST 6010 Ese AmarilloRandall, TXBROKEN TREE LIMBS. TORE UP AWNING ON TRAILER HOME. ROOF DAMAGE TO BARN.
02:47 UTCTSTM WND GST 60WashburnArmstrong, TXASSOCIATED WITH INITIAL PASSAGE OF GUST FRONT/ARRIVAL OF PRECIP

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 August 27, 2006

1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
August 273:29 PM EDTF0Carteret, NC0.125$10,000

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.