Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2006

F0 tornado, Montgomery, Texas, June 17, 2006

This F0 tornado ran 1.0 miles across Montgomery County on June 17, 2006, touching down at 10:30 AM CDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $40,000 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 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 17, 2006
Touchdown
10:30 AM CDT (15:30 UTC)
Path length
1.0 miles (1.6 km)
Path width
75 yards (69 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$40,000
County
Montgomery County
Touchdown point
30.380, -95.720
Lift-off point
30.380, -95.720
Record number
643

What the Weather Service recorded

Tornado downed several large trees, one on top of a church. Out buildings were damaged and some lawn equipment was displaced.

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.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
15:37 UTC17:27 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchHGX
15:51 UTC16:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGX

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 12:29 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), 12:00Z

3.5 hours before the tornado, 244 km from the path. June 17, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 2006-06-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2964 joules per kilogram, CIN -4, lifted condensation level 532 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 12:00Z on 2006-06-17The 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 0 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 13 knots.1939Sfc1 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
2964 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-4 J/kg
Surface CAPE
850 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
532 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
0 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
90 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

8.5 hours after it, 244 km from the path. June 18, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 2006-06-18Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1381 joules per kilogram, CIN -114, lifted condensation level 770 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 00:00Z on 2006-06-18The 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 132 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 35 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
1381 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-114 J/kg
Surface CAPE
528 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
770 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
132 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
243 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
6.9
0-3 km lapse rate
4.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Conroe/Montgomery County Airport (CXO), 29 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
13:30 UTC80.675.2160° 7 kt1014.9
13:53 UTC8276160° 7 kt1015.2
14:21 UTC82.475.2170° 9 kt1015.2VCTS
14:35 UTC82.475.2170° 7 kt1015.2
14:46 UTC82.475.2170° 8 kt1015.2
14:53 UTC8276170° 8 kt1015.6VCTS
15:12 UTC82.475.2170° 9 kt1015.2
15:21 UTC82.473.4180° 11 kt1015.2VCTS
15:37 UTC82.473.4190° 11 kt1015.9VCTS
15:45 UTC78.871.6260° 25 kt321017.6-TSRA
15:47 UTC75.269.8260° 24 kt361017.9+TSRA
15:53 UTC7167250° 14 kt361018.6+TSRA FG
16:07 UTC69.866.2280° 8 kt201017.9TSRA BR
16:10 UTC69.866.2270° 8 kt201017.6-TSRA BR
16:17 UTC69.866.2260° 6 kt1016.9+TSRA BR
16:46 UTC69.866.20° 0 kt1016.6-RA
16:53 UTC70670° 0 kt1016.6-TSRA
17:20 UTC69.866.20° 0 kt1016.3-TSRA

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

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 118 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 15:30 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
15:30 UTCTORNADOW MontgomeryMontgomery, TXLARGE TREES DOWN. ONE TREE DOWN ON CHURCH JUST WEST OF MONTGOMERY. REPORTED DAMAGE TO OUT BUILDINGS WITH DISPLACED LAWN EQUIPMENT.

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 June 17, 2006

3 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 176:35 PM CDTF1Shelby, TN0.350$100,000
June 178:21 PM CDTF0Butler, KS0.540
June 178:42 PM CDTF0Elk, KS2.050

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.