EF0 tornado, Benbrook to Ft Worth, Texas, April 13, 2007

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

2. EF186 to 110 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 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. EF3136 to 165 mph

   Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

5. EF4166 to 200 mph

   Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

6. EF5over 200 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

EF0

Date

April 13, 2007

Touchdown

5:55 PM CDT (22:55 UTC)

Lifted

5:57 PM CDT (22:57 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

1.5 miles (2.4 km)

Path width

30 yards (27 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$150,000

County

Tarrant County

Touchdown point

32.680, -97.459

Lift-off point

32.680, -97.433

Record number

0704131655-01

A strong surface low and dryline interacted with a very unstable atmosphere over North Texas. Large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes were reported as strong storms developed. A total of 5,500 cars and 3,500 homes and businesses were reportedly damaged by hail.

This tornado was captured on video by storm chasers. It touched down just west of Highway 377 and just south of Loop 820. It then travelled to Meadows West Park before dissipating. The tornado damaged fences, trees, and street signs. The facade of a business was also slightly damaged.

This tornado touched down near Sylvania Park, just southwest of the intersection of Beach and Belknap Streets. Severe damage occurred on Wheeler Street from North Beach to Haltom Road, and along Elliott Reeder Road from Haltom Road east approximately a half mile. A fatality also occurred in this area. Substantial roof damage was done to a grocery store, several homes, and a church. Another church suffered steeple damage. Several commercial buildings along Elliott Reeder Road were damaged and numerous recreational vehicles and tractor-trailers were damaged or destroyed. Trees and power lines were also downed. Near the intersection of Riverbend and Jack Newell Roads, a commercial building suffered partial collapse of an east-facing wall. Intermittent damage to trees, fences, and at least one home occurred in the River Trails subdivision, west of the tornado track. The tornado dissipated just west of Precinct Line Road. Winds speeds were estimated at 100-110 MPH. Haltom City and Fort Worth officials estimated about two million dollars in property losses within the two cities.

The deaths

1 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

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.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 22:43 UTC and running to 01:41 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 High Risk, with a 0.30 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 20:01 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.

Fort Worth Nas (NFW), 11 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 18 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:53 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 2007 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

6 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.