Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2007

EF0 tornado, Earth, Texas, June 2, 2007

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Lamb County on June 2, 2007, touching down at 9:14 PM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
June 2, 2007
Touchdown
9:14 PM CDT (02:14 UTC)
Lifted
9:15 PM CDT (02:15 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Lamb County
Touchdown point
34.160, -102.365
Lift-off point
34.158, -102.364
Record number
0706022014-01

What the Weather Service recorded

An active round of severe thunderstorms erupted along a series of outflow boundaries over the South Plains of west Texas during the evening hours of the 2nd, and persisted into the early morning hours of the 3rd. Atmospheric wind shear was sufficient to result in scattered supercell storms that produced extremely large hail and at least six tornadoes.||Damage from the storms was generally a result of large hail, which broke windows and dented vehicles in Levelland (Hockley County) and Meadow (Terry County).

Several storm chasers and Skywarn spotters observed a brief tornado east of Farm to Market Road 1055 south of Earth. The tornado remained in open fields and no damage was reported.

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

The warnings

45 minutes of warning. NWS LUB issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:29 UTC, 45 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:15 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
01:29 UTC02:15 UTCTornado WarningLUB
02:14 UTC03:00 UTCTornado WarningLUB
02:57 UTC03:45 UTCTornado WarningLUB
03:36 UTC08:00 UTCTornado WatchLUB

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 01:06 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

2.2 hours before the tornado, 134 km from the path. June 3, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Amarillo Airport, TX at 00:00Z on 2007-06-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1384 joules per kilogram, CIN -32, lifted condensation level 1663 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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 2007-06-03The 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 54 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 37 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
1384 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-32 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3039 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1663 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
54 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
121 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
4.7
0-3 km lapse rate
8.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

9.8 hours after it, 134 km from the path. June 3, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 2007-06-03Temperature 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 -398, lifted condensation level 1262 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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 2007-06-03The 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 -45 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-398 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1262 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-45 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
27 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:13 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.

What was reported nearby

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

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
23:58 UTCHAIL 0.751 E EasterCastro, TXREPORTED BY BROADCAST METEOROLOGIST.
00:05 UTCHAIL 0.88EasterCastro, TXKAMR-TV BROADCAST METEOROLOGIST.
00:20 UTCHAIL 1.754 S EasterCastro, TXALONG FM 1055.
00:34 UTCHEAVY RAINDimmittCastro, TXSVR UNTIL 830 PM
00:38 UTCHAIL 1DimmittCastro, TXHAIL COVERING ROAD ON HWY 2392 . SOME QUARTER SIZED.
00:55 UTCTORNADO9 Ssw DimmittCastro, TXMULTIPE STORM CHASERS REPORTED A BRIEF TORNADO NORTH-NORTHWEST OF SUNNYSIDE. DUST DEBRIS CLOUD WITH VISIBLE FUNNEL ABOVE.
01:01 UTCHAIL 1.25DimmittCastro, TXHAL...F DOLLARE SIZED HAIL REPORTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT ABOUT 801 PM
01:33 UTCTORNADO13 Ssw DimmittCastro, TXTORNADO TOUCHED DOWN BETWEEN SUNNYSIDE AND EARTH ABOUT 815 AND LIFTED BACK UP ABOUT 830
01:53 UTCHAIL 1.752 N EarthLamb, TXGOLF BALL SIZED HAIL AND LOTS OF ROTATION 2 MILES NORTH OF EARTH
01:56 UTCHAIL 1.53 Nw SpringlakeLamb, TX
02:14 UTCTORNADO4 S EarthLamb, TXTORNADO TOUCHED DOWN ON HWY 1055 AT 914 PM
02:51 UTCHAIL 15 Sw FieldtonLamb, TXONE INCH HAIL
02:55 UTCHAIL 0.756 N LittlefieldLamb, TXTHREE QUARTER INCH HAIL FALLING
03:19 UTCHAIL 15 Nw LittlefieldLamb, TX1 INCH HAIL FALLING ON HWY US84
03:36 UTCFUNNEL CLOUD11 Ene LevellandHockley, TXFUNNEL CLOUD 8 MILES NORTH OF WITHARRAL
04:39 UTCHAIL 1MuleshoeBailey, TXQUARTER SIZED HAIL COVERING GROUND AT WEST CAMP ON HWY 1731
04:47 UTCHAIL 1.75MuleshoeBailey, TXGOLF BALL SIZED HAIL 2 MILES SOUTH OF WEST CAMP ON HYWS 1760 AND 1731

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

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 June 2, 2007

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 22:19 PM CDTEF0Washington, WI0.015
June 26:35 PM CDTEF0Lyon, MN0.5100
June 27:55 PM CDTEF0Castro, TX0.230
June 28:15 PM CDTEF0Castro, TX4.0300
June 28:45 PM CDTEF0Hancock, IL0.125$5,000
June 210:34 PM CDTEF0Garza, TX0.8100
June 210:35 PM CDTEF0Lamb, TX1.5100
June 210:40 PM CDTEF0Hockley, TX0.8100
June 211:03 PM CDTEF0Hockley, TX1.075$15,000
June 212:40 AM CDTEF0Gaines, TX1.050

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.