EF3 tornado, Mc Lean, 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

8:45 PM CDT (01:45 UTC)

Lifted

9:00 PM CDT (02:00 UTC)

On the ground

15 minutes

Path length

8.0 miles (12.9 km)

Path width

1,760 yards (1609 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$27,000

County

Gray County

Touchdown point

35.324, -100.553

Lift-off point

35.432, -100.600

Record number

0703281945-01

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.

Major damage associated with this tornado included a Texas Department of Transportation meteorological tower which was bent at a ninety degree angle to the ground one mile southeast of McLean. Approximately five hundred yards to the north northeast of this tower...a metal veterinary clinic had a Texas Department of Transportation Highway sign impact the building and penetrate the metal siding and also lost part of the tin from the roof. One hundred yards to the north and slightly west of the veterinary clinic was a house that suffered extensive roof damage. A small section of the roof was destroyed...indications throughout the house show that the entire roof structure attempted to be lifted from the walls. The West Texas Mesonet station one mile east of McLean at 1935 CST measured a wind gust of one hundred and ten knots. A large barn was also destroyed along with some tree damage occurred just northeast of McLean during the final stages of the tornado.|Minor damage was encountered along County Road Y...where metal roofing was lost from a large metal shed. Metal lawn and porch furniture was mangled and relocated...a large satellite dish suffered minor damage to its mesh lining...and a few large branches were snapped from nearby trees. An empty fertilizer bin disappeared. The tornado dissipated north of County Road Y. No injuries were reported.

This tornado developed from the same storm that moved just east of McLean. The initial circulation developed eight miles north northeast of McLean at 1945 CST and was initially moving northeast at forty miles per hour. As it crossed Farm to Market Road 2473 at the McClellan Creek bridge...high-tension power lines supported by double wooden pole structures were broken or snapped at the ground at several locations. Numerous hard and softwood trees were debarked with only stubs remaining. At 1949 CST...the tornado moved more northwesterly and accelerated to forty-five miles per hour. A local rancher...who lives seven miles northwest of Kellerville heard the tornado approaching and took shelter. Damage to his property included a covered porch that was completely blown off and steel roofing was peeled back on the the southward facing side. A brick chimney also collapsed. Several trees...as much as two hundred feet from the west edge of the house...were blown down. A bunkhouse on the property lost of the roof. An anchored large steel feed bunk was pulled out of the ground. No injuries were reported.

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

18 minutes of warning. NWS AMA issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:27 UTC, 18 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:15 UTC.

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 00:42 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), 46 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 104 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:45 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.