Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2007

EF0 tornado, Booker, Texas, March 28, 2007

This EF0 tornado ran 6.0 miles across Lipscomb County on March 28, 2007, touching down at 7:16 PM CDT and reaching 150 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
March 28, 2007
Touchdown
7:16 PM CDT (00:16 UTC)
Lifted
7:28 PM CDT (00:28 UTC)
On the ground
12 minutes
Path length
6.0 miles (9.7 km)
Path width
150 yards (137 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Lipscomb County
Touchdown point
36.450, -100.440
Lift-off point
36.511, -100.454
Record number
0703281816-01

What the Weather Service recorded

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 originated five miles east of Booker or between Booker and Darrouzett...about six miles south of the Beaver County and Lipscomb County line at 1816 CST. The tornado remained over open country and no damage or injuries were reported in Lipscomb County. The tornado entered Beaver County at 1828 CST and then dissipated at 1854 CST seven miles east of Elmwood Oklahoma.

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

The warnings

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.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:16 UTC04:29 UTCTornado WatchAMA
23:23 UTC00:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA
00:21 UTC01:00 UTCTornado WarningAMA
02:29 UTC03:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA
03:26 UTC04:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA
04:29 UTC06:55 UTCTornado WatchAMA
04:45 UTC05:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA
06:26 UTC08:30 UTCFlash Flood WarningAMA

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 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 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.

Dodge City, (KDDC), 00:00Z

0.3 hours before the tornado, 151 km from the path. March 29, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2007-03-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2811 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 815 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Dodge City, at 00:00Z on 2007-03-29The 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 155 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 34 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
2811 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3517 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
815 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
155 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
209 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.2
Supercell composite
12.2
0-3 km lapse rate
7.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Dodge City, (KDDC), 12:00Z

11.7 hours after it, 151 km from the path. March 29, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2007-03-29Temperature 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 -72840, lifted condensation level 1064 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Dodge City, at 12:00Z on 2007-03-29The 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 183 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 60 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-72840 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1064 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
60 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
183 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
157 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Perryton/Ochiltree County Apt (PYX), 28 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
22:28 UTC73.460.8170° 23 kt301006.4
22:48 UTC71.660.8170° 21 kt271006.4
23:08 UTC71.660.8170° 22 kt301006.1
23:28 UTC71.660.8170° 19 kt271005.8
23:48 UTC69.860.8160° 25 kt341006.4
00:08 UTC66.259160° 19 kt281007.1
00:30 UTC66.260.8140° 26 kt311006.4
00:49 UTC6860.8140° 29 kt381006.8
01:08 UTC66.260.8150° 16 kt251007.1
01:28 UTC66.260.8140° 29 kt361007.1

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

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 149 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:16 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
23:30 UTCHAIL 127 N MiamiOchiltree, TX4 INCHES OF RAIN
23:35 UTCHAIL 0.883 S BookerLipscomb, TXON HIGHWAY 15 WEST OF DARROUZETT
23:40 UTCHAIL 0.753 Nw DarrouzettLipscomb, TXPENNY HAIL
00:08 UTCHAIL 2.753 E BookerLipscomb, TXRELAYED BY LIPSCOMB SHERIFF'S OFFICE
00:23 UTCTORNADO4 E BookerLipscomb, TX
00:23 UTCTORNADO6 E BookerLipscomb, TXREPORTED BY BOOKER FIRE DEPARTMENT
02:30 UTCHAIL 1.753 N CanadianHemphill, TXROADS COVERED IN GOLF BALL SIZED HAIL AT INTERSECTION OF US 83 AND US 60
03:00 UTCTSTM WND GST 601 Ne CanadianHemphill, TX
03:00 UTCHAIL 1.251 Ne CanadianHemphill, TX
03:04 UTCHAIL 0.756 E BookerLipscomb, TXPENNY SIZE HAIL AT HIGHWAY 15 AND VIEWPOINT ROAD

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 March 28, 2007

65 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 283:05 PM CDTEF0Logan, IL0.110
March 283:19 PM CDTEF0McLean, IL0.110
March 285:20 PM CDTEF0Swisher, TX2.575
March 285:28 PM CDTEF0Briscoe, TX2.075
March 285:43 PM CDTEF1Briscoe, TX6.8100$35,000
March 286:03 PM CDTEF0Floyd, TX0.550$10,000
March 286:03 PM CDTEF0Briscoe, TX4.8220
March 286:10 PM CDTEF0Briscoe, TX1.8100
March 286:35 PM CDTEF2Briscoe, TX16.5300$175,000
March 286:40 PM CDTEF0Donley, TX1.0100
March 285:49 PM MDTEF0Wallace, KS0.510
March 285:52 PM MDTEF0Wallace, KS6.075
March 286:55 PM CDTEF1Donley, TX7.3150$5,000
March 287:05 PM CDTEF0Donley, TX1.0200
March 287:05 PM CDTEF0Decatur, KS8.025$40,000
March 286:12 PM MDTEF0Cherry, NE3.0150$250
March 287:28 PM CDTEF0Meade, KS1.450
March 287:28 PM CDTEF2Beaver, OK16.01502$102,000
March 287:32 PM CDTEF0Meade, KS1.350
March 286:33 PM MDTEF0Hamilton, KS10.6100
March 286:37 PM MDTEF0Sherman, KS0.510
March 287:39 PM CDTEF3Donley, TX3.46002$180,000
March 287:42 PM CDTEF1Meade, KS13.5125$78,000
March 287:46 PM CDTEF2Donley, TX4.2528$63,000
March 287:48 PM CDTEF3Gray, TX3.06002$100,000
March 286:48 PM MDTEF0Greeley, KS11.0100
March 286:49 PM MDTEF0Sherman, KS0.510
March 287:58 PM CDTEF0Ford, KS7.850
March 288:02 PM CDTEF0Donley, TX0.350
March 288:04 PM CDTEF2Beaver, OK6.0100$58,000
March 287:05 PM MDTEF0Chase, NE0.120
March 287:05 PM MDTEF1Arthur, NE20.6100
March 287:06 PM MDTEF0Sherman, KS3.025
March 287:09 PM MDTEF0Greeley, KS15.0100$25,000
March 287:11 PM MDTEF1Chase, NE2.520$15,000
March 287:12 PM MDTEF0Perkins, NE0.220
March 288:13 PM CDTEF2Donley, TX4.5200$170,000
March 288:14 PM CDTEF1Gray, KS10.4200$160,000
March 288:15 PM CDTEF0Donley, TX1.050
March 287:15 PM MDTEF2Sherman, KS7.0350$100,000
March 287:20 PM MDTEF1Perkins, NE2.330$15,000
March 287:20 PM MDTEF2Perkins, NE15.9900$1.2 million
March 288:23 PM CDTEF2Gray, TX3.6200$74,000
March 288:29 PM CDTEF2Cheyenne, KS27.0700$2.0 million
March 288:30 PM CDTEF0Gray, TX0.350$3,000
March 288:32 PM CDTEF1Hodgeman, KS10.7200$3,000
March 288:36 PM CDTEF1Gray, TX0.350$39,000
March 288:39 PM CDTEF0Meade, KS8.7100
March 287:41 PM MDTEF1Wallace, KS8.0100$250,000
March 288:45 PM CDTEF3Gray, TX8.01,760$27,000
March 287:46 PM MDTEF1Grant, NE2.0100$500
March 288:49 PM CDTEF1Cheyenne, KS4.0100$6,000
March 287:54 PM MDTEF3Prowers, CO28.090029$4.0 million
March 288:00 PM MDTEF0Keith, NE0.120
March 289:01 PM CDTEF3Hodgeman, KS29.11,320$535,000
March 289:09 PM CDTEF1Cheyenne, KS3.0200$25,000
March 288:11 PM MDTEF1Keith, NE0.720$100,000
March 288:17 PM MDTEF1Dundy, NE12.0440$460,000
March 288:20 PM MDTEF0Keith, NE0.120$5,000
March 288:29 PM MDTEF0Sherman, KS2.525$3,000

All 66 of them

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.