EF3 tornado, Lefors, Texas, March 28, 2007

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

March 28, 2007

Touchdown

7:48 PM CDT (00:48 UTC)

Lifted

7:54 PM CDT (00:54 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

3.0 miles (4.8 km)

Path width

600 yards (549 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

Property damage

$100,000

County

Gray County

Touchdown point

35.266, -101.020

Lift-off point

35.297, -100.983

Record number

0703281848-01

Severe thunderstorms during the evening hours produced numerous tornadoes and large hail across the southern...central and eastern Texas panhandle. Heavy rains caused flash flooding in the eastern Texas panhandle during the late night and early morning hours. One man was killed by a tornado in the northeastern Texas panhandle and another person was injured.

The tornado formed three miles south southwest of Jericho in northwest Donley county at 1839 CST and entered Gray county about one and a half miles west northwest of Jericho at 1848 CST. The tornado then continued moving north northwest for another three miles before dissipating just south of Farm to Market Road 2477 and just east of State Highway 70 four miles northwest of Jericho or about eleven miles southwest of Lefors at 1854 CST.|As highlighted in the Donley County portion of this tornado track...the most significant damage from this tornado occurred to three semi trucks that were caught and badly damaged in the tornado on Interstate 40 on the Donley County and Gray County line. In this area...power poles were snapped near their bases. The cab of one of the semi trucks was reportedly lifted and deposited atop its trailer. The driver and his wife were sucked out of the cab. The driver was completely disrobed some distance away from the truck. His clothing was found tangled in the engine of the truck. The driver and his wife were reported to be in critical and serious condition...respectively. Additionally the cab was crushed to the steering column. The trailer roof appeared to have been pried up and twisted...and at least one of the side walls failed. The contents of the truck were scattered downstream into a field for nearly a mile. In this field...irrigation pivots were overturned. The property owner also reported that irrigation pivot tires weighing three hundred pounds were relocated and a fifteen hundred gallon fertilizer tank that was one quarter full was gone.|Light damage was observed along Vernon Road just east of State Highway 70 and just south of Farm to Market Road 2477 in southwest Gray county...where metal roofing damage was observed to barns...stables...and sheds. A large quantity of metal roofing panels was also found south of these buildings...with several twisted around fence posts and trees. The tornado dissipated just north of this area.

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 20:16 UTC and running to 04:29 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 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 21:01 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.

Pampa (PPA), 37 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 64 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:45 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

65 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 66 of them

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.