Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2007
EF1 tornado, Channing to Hartley, Texas, April 21, 2007
From Channing to Hartley, this EF1 tornado ran 13.6 miles across Hartley County on April 21, 2007, touching down at 6:59 PM CDT and reaching 880 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $12,000 of property damage.
The rating scale
Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- EF1
- Date
- April 21, 2007
- Touchdown
- 6:59 PM CDT (23:59 UTC)
- Lifted
- 7:27 PM CDT (00:27 UTC)
- On the ground
- 28 minutes
- Path length
- 13.6 miles (21.8 km)
- Path width
- 880 yards (805 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $12,000
- County
- Hartley County
- Touchdown point
- 35.647, -102.313
- Lift-off point
- 35.841, -102.285
- Record number
- 0704211759-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Numerous severe thunderstorms producing large hail...damaging winds...and tornadoes moved north and northeast across the western and central Texas panhandle during the evening hours. The only injuries occurred in Cactus from a tornado...however no fatalities were reported.
This tornado formed four miles west of Boys Ranch in Oldham county and entered Hartley county two and a half miles south southeast of Channing at 1759 CST. The tornado continued for another thirteen and a half miles before dissipating on mile south of U.S. Highway 87 or seven miles east southeast of Hartley. In Hartley county...numerous power poles...fences...and a few highway signs sustained damage. While in Oldham county...the tornado was rated as EF0 but in Hartley county it was rated as EF1. There were no fatalities and no injuries reported.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
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 19:57 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.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Amarillo, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Apr 21, 5:30 PM CDT, 1 hour 29 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Apr 21, 5:30 PM CDT, 1 hour 29 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX 530 PM CDT SAT APR 21 2007 .DISCUSSION... BUSY THIS AFTERNOON WITH WX. STRONG UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM BARRELING TOWARDS FCST AREA WITH PACIFIC COLD FRONT OVER ERN NM AND DRYLINE PUNCHING INTO WRN ZNS. TSTMS BLOWING UP AHEAD OF THESE SFC FEATURES AS PVA SPREADS THE AREA. EXPECT CONTINUED DVLPMT OF TSTMS WITH SVR POTENTIAL THIS EVENING. SOME DISCRETE SUPERCELLS FOLLOWED BY SQUALL LINE AS UPPER AND SFC FEATURES PLOW EWD AND NEWD ACROSS THE FCST AREA. CHC POPS W TO CATEGORICAL EASTERN HALF THRU 06Z... TAPERING OFF SHARPLY W TO E AFTER 06Z TNGT. TOR WATCH IN EFFECT ENTIRE FCST AREA TIL 05Z. DRY WX SUNDAY AND MOST OF MONDAY. HOWEVER...ANOTHER STRONG UPPER LOW WILL BE WAITING IN THE WINGS OVER THE FOUR CORNERS REGION...WITH LOW LVL MOISTURE RETURNING AGAIN LATE SUN NIGHT AND MONDAY. RETAINED SLGT CHC TO CHC POPS MON AFTN AND MON NIGHT. IT NOW SEEMS PLAUSIBLE THAT PNHDLS WILL LIKELY BE DRY SLOTTED MUCH OF TUE AND TUE NIGHT IF PROGGED PATH OF UPPER LOW VERIFIES. LOWERED POPS TO SLGT CHC DURG THOSE TIME PERIODS. RETURN TO DRY WX AGAIN WED AND BEYOND. WILL COMMENT THAT MEDIUM RANGE MODELS DISAGREE STRONGLY ON HANDLING OF NEXT PSBL SHORTWAVE TROF AROUND FRIDAY. GFS MOST PROGRESSIVE WHILE ECMWF AND UKMET ARE SLOWEST...AND WELL W OF FCST AREA. WITH THIS MUCH DISAGREEMENT AMONG LONGER RANGE MODELS...DECIDED IT WAS BEST TO LEAVE FCST DRY FROM WED ONWARD FOR NOW. PRETTY MUCH USED MEXMOS TEMPS AND POPS AFTER PERIOD 5. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... AMARILLO TX 46 76 46 79 51 / 70 0 0 20 20 BEAVER OK 49 75 46 77 56 / 80 0 0 30 30 BOISE CITY OK 47 72 42 76 47 / 30 0 0 20 20 BORGER TX 50 78 52 80 57 / 80 0 0 20 20 BOYS RANCH TX 48 78 44 81 49 / 40 0 0 20 20 CANYON TX 46 76 45 79 49 / 60 0 0 20 20 CLARENDON TX 49 78 49 79 57 / 80 0 0 30 30 DALHART TX 45 73 40 77 46 / 30 0 0 20 20 GUYMON OK 50 76 46 79 54 / 80 0 0 20 20 HEREFORD TX 47 76 47 80 48 / 30 0 0 20 20 LIPSCOMB TX 51 76 49 78 57 / 90 0 0 30 30 PAMPA TX 50 76 52 77 58 / 80 0 0 30 30 SHAMROCK TX 51 78 52 78 59 / 80 0 0 30 30 WELLINGTON TX 52 79 53 80 60 / 90 0 0 30 30 && .AMA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... TX...NONE. OK...NONE. && ANDRADE
Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 21, 4:50 PM CDT, 2 hours 9 minutes before
TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX 450 PM CDT SAT APR 21 2007 OKZ001>003-TXZ001>020-221100- ARMSTRONG-BEAVER-CARSON-CIMARRON-COLLINGSWORTH-DALLAM-DEAF SMITH- DONLEY-GRAY-HANSFORD-HARTLEY-HEMPHILL-HUTCHINSON-LIPSCOMB-MOORE- OCHILTREE-OLDHAM-POTTER-RANDALL-ROBERTS-SHERMAN-TEXAS-WHEELER- 450 PM CDT SAT APR 21 2007 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES. .DAY ONE... ...A TORNADO WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR ALL OF THE OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS PANHANDLES UNTIL MIDNIGHT CDT... THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING ACROSS THE EASTERN TWO THIRDS OF THE TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES...GENERALLY EAST OF LINE EXTENDING FROM ELKHART KANSAS TO BUSHLAND. ACROSS THE WESTERN THIRD OF THE PANHANDLES...A FEW STORMS COULD BRIEFLY REACH SEVERE LEVELS THIS AFTERNOON. AS AN UPPER LEVEL LOW APPROACHES THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON...THE DRYLINE IS EXPECTED TO BECOME ESTABLISHED ACROSS THE WESTERN THIRD OF THE TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES. THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ALONG THE DRYLINE AND THEN MOVE EASTWARD ACROSS THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN PANHANDLES THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE PRIMARY SEVERE WEATHER THREATS WILL BE LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...AND A FEW STORMS WILL LIKELY PRODUCE TORNADOES. A FEW STORMS COULD PRODUCE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AND FLASH FLOODING...BUT DUE THE EXPECTED FAST MOVEMENT OF STORMS...WIDESPREAD FLASH FLOODING IS NOT ANTICIPATED. IN ADDITION...WINDS WILL BE SUSTAINED AT 20 TO 30 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS. CAUTION IS ADVISED ON AREA LAKES THROUGH THIS EVENING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... THERE IS ALSO A SLIGHT CHANCE TO CHANCE FOR MORE THUNDERSTORMS MONDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT. A FEW STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE BOTH MONDAY AND TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO BE THE PRIMARY THREATS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER GROUPS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS SHOULD REMAIN ALERT AND PREPARE FOR LIKELY ACTIVATION THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING... ESPECIALLY AREAS EAST OF A LINE EXTENDING FROM DALHART TO HEREFORD. WYNNE/ANDRADE
In the hours before
Local storm report, Apr 21, 6:13 PM CDT, 46 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
613 PM CDT SAT APR 21 2007
..TIME.. ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE.. ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION.. ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0612 PM HAIL DALHART 36.06N 102.52W
04/21/2007 M1.00 INCH DALLAM TX TRAINED SPOTTER
&&
JJBLocal storm report, Apr 21, 6:15 PM CDT, 44 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
615 PM CDT SAT APR 21 2007
..TIME.. ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE.. ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION.. ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0614 PM HAIL DALHART 36.06N 102.52W
04/21/2007 M0.88 INCH DALLAM TX TRAINED SPOTTER
&&
SMBLocal storm report, Apr 21, 6:22 PM CDT, 37 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
622 PM CDT SAT APR 21 2007
..TIME.. ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE.. ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION.. ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0615 PM HAIL DALHART 36.06N 102.52W
04/21/2007 M1.00 INCH DALLAM TX TRAINED SPOTTER
COVERING THE GROUND
&&
SMBLocal storm report, Apr 21, 6:44 PM CDT, 15 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
644 PM CDT SAT APR 21 2007
..TIME.. ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE.. ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION.. ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0640 PM HAIL BOISE CITY 36.73N 102.51W
04/21/2007 E1.00 INCH CIMARRON OK FIRE DEPT/RESCUE
&&
CKLocal storm report, Apr 21, 6:46 PM CDT, 13 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
646 PM CDT SAT APR 21 2007
..TIME.. ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE.. ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION.. ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0636 PM HAIL DALHART 36.06N 102.52W
04/21/2007 M1.25 INCH DALLAM TX TRAINED SPOTTER
&&
CKLocal storm report, Apr 21, 6:48 PM CDT, 11 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
648 PM CDT SAT APR 21 2007
..TIME.. ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE.. ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION.. ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0645 PM HAIL 3 S WILDORADO 35.17N 102.24W
04/21/2007 E1.00 INCH DEAF SMITH TX BROADCAST MEDIA
REPORTED BY LOCAL MEDIA
&&
CKThe 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), 12:00Z
12.0 hours before the tornado, 79 km from the path. April 21, 2007.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 516 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -318 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 788 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 25 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 62 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 80 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- -0.2
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 3.7 K/km
Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), 00:00Z
0.0 hours before the tornado, 79 km from the path. April 22, 2007.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1794 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -60 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2759 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 946 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 59 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 30 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 263 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 301 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 3.3
- Supercell composite
- 16.9
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.9 K/km
The surface observations
Dumas (DUX), 29 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 UTC |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 78 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:59 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.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2007 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of April 21, 2007
27 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 21 | 6:20 PM CDT | EF0 | Lamb, TX | 2.0 | 200 | |||
| April 21 | 5:25 PM MDT | EF0 | Baca, CO | 2.7 | 75 | |||
| April 21 | 5:25 PM MDT | EF0 | Prowers, CO | 3.0 | 300 | |||
| April 21 | 6:51 PM CDT | EF0 | Oldham, TX | 3.6 | 880 | |||
| April 21 | 5:54 PM MDT | EF0 | Kit Carson, CO | 0.5 | 10 | $30,000 | ||
| April 21 | 6:57 PM CDT | EF2 | Lamb, TX | 28.8 | 1,230 | 1 | $1.2 million | |
| April 21 | 7:16 PM CDT | EF2 | Moore, TX | 19.7 | 1,320 | 14 | $1.3 million | |
| April 21 | 7:40 PM CDT | EF0 | Sherman, TX | 7.0 | 1,320 | |||
| April 21 | 7:48 PM CDT | EF0 | Aurora, SD | 2.8 | 100 | |||
| April 21 | 7:50 PM CDT | EF2 | Moore, TX | 11.9 | 704 | $8,000 | ||
| April 21 | 7:57 PM CDT | EF2 | Swisher, TX | 3.0 | 200 | 3 | $2.0 million | |
| April 21 | 8:06 PM CDT | EF0 | Moore, TX | 1.0 | 50 | |||
| April 21 | 8:11 PM CDT | EF1 | Swisher, TX | 4.0 | 300 | |||
| April 21 | 8:19 PM CDT | EF0 | Moore, TX | 1.5 | 100 | |||
| April 21 | 8:20 PM CDT | EF0 | Swisher, TX | 1.0 | 500 | |||
| April 21 | 8:36 PM CDT | EF1 | Moore, TX | 2.0 | 1,320 | $18,000 | ||
| April 21 | 8:39 PM CDT | EF0 | Sherman, TX | 7.3 | 1,320 | |||
| April 21 | 8:45 PM CDT | EF1 | Armstrong, TX | 3.3 | 440 | $4,000 | ||
| April 21 | 8:45 PM CDT | EF1 | Moore, TX | 12.2 | 440 | $6,000 | ||
| April 21 | 8:56 PM CDT | EF0 | Kingsbury, SD | 0.2 | 50 | |||
| April 21 | 8:58 PM CDT | EF0 | Sherman, TX | 8.0 | 700 | |||
| April 21 | 8:59 PM CDT | EF1 | Moore, TX | 2.0 | 704 | $8,000 | ||
| April 21 | 9:00 PM CDT | EF1 | Randall, TX | 10.7 | 880 | $14,000 | ||
| April 21 | 9:35 PM CDT | EF0 | Armstrong, TX | 0.5 | 440 | |||
| April 21 | 9:37 PM CDT | EF2 | Carson, TX | 12.4 | 440 | $72,000 | ||
| April 21 | 9:40 PM CDT | EF0 | Armstrong, TX | 4.2 | 50 | |||
| April 21 | 9:50 PM CDT | EF1 | Gray, TX | 12.7 | 50 | $52,000 |
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.