F1 tornado, North Zulch to Normangee, Texas, December 29, 2006

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.

Rating

F1

Date

December 29, 2006

Touchdown

3:15 PM CST (21:15 UTC)

Path length

15.9 miles (25.6 km)

Path width

1,320 yards (1207 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

3

Property damage

$750,000

County

Madison County

Touchdown point

30.830, -96.100

Lift-off point

31.080, -96.060

Record number

1086

A large upper-level low moving into west Texas from AZ-NM provided the large scale lift, or dynamics. Ample low-level instability, mainly very high southeasterly winds just off the surface with good veering of winds under 4k ft, set the stage for isolated tornadoes, damaging straight line winds, and south-to-north streamer/training cells.

Tornado caused three injuries due to a large oak tree falling through a home at Fair Oaks Ranch on the Old Spanish Road. Significant damage to a chicken farm located east of Normangee which killed 15,000 chickens. Numerous trees down, several damaged roofs, and downed power lines along with a power support tower. The most significant damage was reported between Strawther Road and the Willowhold Community with many damaged roofs and downed trees. A horse ranch also received a large amount of damage in the community of Mecca. This tornado was a border-crosser and moved north into Leon County.

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

16 minutes of warning. NWS HGX issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:59 UTC, 16 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:47 UTC and running to 23:38 UTC.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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 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.

College Station (CLL), 49 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Ft Hood radar (KGRK), 127 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:13 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.

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

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

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

26 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.