EF0 tornado, Farwell to Bovina, Texas, March 23, 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

March 23, 2007

Touchdown

8:59 PM CDT (01:59 UTC)

Lifted

9:02 PM CDT (02:02 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

1.0 miles (1.6 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Parmer County

Touchdown point

34.365, -103.030

Lift-off point

34.353, -103.030

Record number

0703231959-01

An active round of severe thunderstorms, including damaging tornadoes, affected a large portion of the Southern Plains of the U.S. during the afternoon and evening hours of the 23rd. Supercell thunderstorms with a history of producing deadly tornadoes propagated northeastward from the plains of eastern New Mexico into the extreme southwestern Texas Panhandle and the western South Plains of west Texas during the evening hours. As these storms moved eastward across the state line, convective modes transitioned from classic supercells toward mini-bow segments and line-echo-waves. Despite the linear nature of the storms, extreme wind shear resulted in at least five tornadoes across the western South Plains region.|Tornadoes were initially observed in the extreme southwestern Texas Panhandle and the northwestern South Plains around 20:00 CST. The hardest hit area was the Bovina vicinity in Parmer County, where a weak tornado struck the city resulting in minor structural damage. |Severe storms producing widespread wind damage and at least one strong tornado then impacted portions of Cochran, southern Bailey, and Lamb Counties during the late evening hours. Two cotton gins in Cochran County were severely damaged, and power outages were widespread. |No injuries were reported during the severe weather outbreak on the 23rd, but property damage estimates totaled more than $400,000.

The public reported a tornado south of Farwell. The tornado remained in open fields just east of the Texas/New Mexico border. Local officials found no damage in the area.|

The Bovina Police Department reported seeing a funnel cloud approach the city from the southwest. A National Weather Service survey team documented damage from a weak tornado that developed in a Bovina city park and moved northeastward through a residential area. Large tree limbs up to five inches in diameter were blown down, storage sheds were destroyed, and several homes sustained roof and window damage. On the north edge of the city, a carport was destroyed with debris wrapped around a large tree. Additionally, windows were blown out of an adjacent mobile home. Power outages were widespread across the city. |The tornado continued to track northward where it destroyed a horse stable at a farm northeast of the city. No injuries were reported. Many residents sought shelter in basements and left trailer houses for more substantial structures. Damage estimates totaled $75,000.

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

24 minutes of warning. NWS LUB issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:35 UTC, 24 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:20 UTC and running to 02:57 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:53 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.

Clovis Muni (CVN), 9 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Cannon AFB radar (KFDX), 62 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:58 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

17 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.