EF2 tornado, Red Spgs to Victory City, Texas, April 10, 2008

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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

April 10, 2008

Touchdown

8:12 AM CDT (13:12 UTC)

Lifted

8:14 AM CDT (13:14 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

5.5 miles (8.9 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$1.0 million

County

Bowie County

Touchdown point

33.422, -94.235

Lift-off point

33.494, -94.193

Record number

0804100712-01

A strong pressure gradient initially across northeast Texas and northwest Louisiana during the pre dawn hours of April 10th produced non-thunderstorm wind gusts responsible for downing trees and power lines. Later that morning...a squall line entered northeast Texas and southeast Oklahoma producing mostly wind damage along with some large hail and an isolated tornado in Bowie County Texas.

Most of the tornado damage was north of interstate 30 with some structures showing EF2 damage. In particular, the cinderblock and brick lawnmower business just north of Hwy 82 was completely destroyed with roofing debris and lawnmower parts thrown to the west and north of the building location. A brick home several hundred yards from the lawnmower business sustained significant damage to its roof and exterior walls. A metal shop building built with large metal I-beams was completely destroyed. I-beams were twisted and thrown in a northerly and westerly direction up to 200 yards from the building location with concrete still attached. The trees between the large metal building and the interstate were uprooted or snapped in a convergent pattern...indicative of tornadic winds. In total...12 structures were damaged or destroyed between Hwy 82 and the interstate and numerous trees were downed. Three tractor trailers were flipped on interstate 30 which resulted in the interstate being shut down and there was one injury. Further south of Hwy 82 on the Lonestar Army Ammunition Depot, numerous trees were snapped or uprooted and damage to parts of the Depot were reported...although it was not surveyed. North of interstate 30 along the service road...an outbuilding sales business lost several buildings and had many others damaged. Along Farm to Market 2253, numerous trees were snapped and uprooted on either side of the road and several sheds and barns were damaged or destroyed. A greenhouse was severely damaged near the end of the track. Some homes were also damaged from fallen trees.

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.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 08:58 UTC and running to 17:00 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:54 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.

Texarkana Regional/Webb (TXK), 21 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 117 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 13:12 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 2008 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

32 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.