Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2007

EF0 tornado, Brady Curtis Rnch Ar to Rochelle, Texas, May 1, 2007

From Brady Curtis Rnch Ar to Rochelle, this EF0 tornado ran 3.3 miles across McCulloch County on May 1, 2007, touching down at 3:05 PM CDT and reaching 30 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
May 1, 2007
Touchdown
3:05 PM CDT (20:05 UTC)
Lifted
3:20 PM CDT (20:20 UTC)
On the ground
15 minutes
Path length
3.3 miles (5.2 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Crop damage
$5,000
County
McCulloch County
Touchdown point
31.320, -99.310
Lift-off point
31.297, -99.257
Record number
0705011405-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Thunderstorms developed along a southward moving outflow boundary from thunderstorms the day before and during the overnight. During the initial stages of thunderstorm development, a land spout tornado developed in northern McCulloch County. After the thunderstorm matured, the tornado dissipated. But it started producing large hail as the storm moved further to the south across the Northwest Hill Country.

Skywarn storm spotters watched a landspout tornado develop and skip along the ground for several miles before lifting. The tornado moved across a rather remote area with only minor damage to wheat crops noted.

The land spout tornado touched ground once again. It remained over open fields with no damage reported.

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.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
11:00 UTC13:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningSJT
11:20 UTC12:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJT
20:15 UTC20:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJT
20:37 UTC21:00 UTCTornado WarningSJT
20:51 UTC04:00 UTCTornado WatchSJT
20:56 UTC21:45 UTCTornado WarningSJT
21:40 UTC22:30 UTCTornado WarningSJT

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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:24 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.

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 12:00Z

8.1 hours before the tornado, 253 km from the path. May 1, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2007-05-01Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 100 joules per kilogram, CIN -87, lifted condensation level 597 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, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2007-05-01The 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 249 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 30 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
100 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-87 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
597 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
249 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
239 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.7
0-3 km lapse rate
4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 00:00Z

3.9 hours after it, 253 km from the path. May 2, 2007.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2007-05-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 98 joules per kilogram, CIN -59, lifted condensation level 833 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, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2007-05-02The 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 19 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 38 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
98 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-59 J/kg
Surface CAPE
501 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
833 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
38 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
19 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
87 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-0.0
Supercell composite
-0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Brady (BBD), 15 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
18:05 UTC73.469.890° 5 kt1011.9
18:25 UTC75.269.8120° 6 kt1011.5
18:45 UTC75.269.8120° 4 kt1011.2
19:05 UTC7769.8140° 5 kt1011.2
19:25 UTC78.869.8 4 kt1010.8
19:45 UTC78.871.6160° 8 kt1010.5
20:05 UTC80.669.8120° 7 kt1010.2
20:25 UTC78.869.8120° 6 kt1010.2
20:45 UTC80.671.6290° 6 kt1009.8
21:05 UTC82.469.8310° 3 kt1009.5-RA
21:25 UTC80.671.610° 7 kt1009.1
21:45 UTC80.669.820° 9 kt1009.1

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

The radar

The San Angelo radar (KSJT), 115 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:06 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
20:00 UTCTORNADO6 E LohnMcculloch, TXLAND SPOUT TORNADO LASTED FOR ABOUT 15 MINUTES BEFORE LIFTING.
20:05 UTCTORNADO 06 E LohnMcculloch, TXLAND SPOUT TORNADO LASTED FOR ABOUT 15 MINUTES BEFORE LIFTING. THE TORNADO REMAINED OVER OPEN FIELDS.
20:35 UTCTORNADO 04 Nnw RochelleMcculloch, TXSPOTTERS CONTINUE TO INDICATE A TORNADO BRIEFLY TOUCHING AND THEN GOING BACK UP. THIS TORNADO WAS IN AN OPEN FIELD.
20:35 UTCTORNADO4 Nnw RochelleMcculloch, TXSPOTTERS CONTINUE TO INDICATE A TORNADO BRIEFLY TOUCHING AND THEN GOING BACK UP.
21:47 UTCHAIL 1.7510 N PontotocSan Saba, TX
22:20 UTCHAIL 0.88PontotocMason, TX

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 May 1, 2007

9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 11:50 PM CDTEF0Wabaunsee, KS0.150
May 12:20 PM CDTEF0Meade, KS0.230
May 13:50 PM EDTEF0Wood, OH0.330
May 13:07 PM CDTEF0Wabaunsee, KS0.150
May 13:17 PM CDTEF0Wabaunsee, KS0.150
May 13:35 PM CDTEF0McCulloch, TX1.830
May 16:05 PM EDTEF1Crawford, PA2.030$500,000
May 16:15 PM EDTEF0Mercer, PA4.0100$20,000
May 17:40 PM CDTEF0Gillespie, TX0.220

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.