EF0 tornado, Mc Bride to Panhandle, Texas, April 29, 2009

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

April 29, 2009

Touchdown

6:36 PM CDT (23:36 UTC)

Path length

0.1 miles (0.2 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$8,000

County

Carson County

Touchdown point

35.377, -101.394

Lift-off point

35.377, -101.394

Record number

0904291736-01

Severe thunderstorms during the early evening hours produced large hail and a couple of tornadoes across the central and eastern Texas Panhandle. There were no reports of damage or injuries.

The tornado was reported by the Carson County Sheriff's Office at 1730 CST about seven miles southeast of McBride. The tornado crossed Texas State Highway 207 as it moved generally east or southeast north of Panhandle. At least eleven power poles were snapped and were facing east. The Carson County Sheriff's Office stopped all northbound traffic on Highway 207. The tornado lifted approximately 1731 CST about seven miles north of Panhandle. No injuries were reported.

The Carson County Sheriff's Office reported that the tornado touched down around 1736 CST near County Road 14 between Texas State Highway 207 and County Road M...about two miles north northwest of Panhandle. Six power poles were snapped and facing south. The base of the tornado was approximately seventy-five feet wide and the tornado lasted only about thirty seconds before lifting. Sparks were visible...which accounted for the power poles being snapped. The tornado may have touched down for a second time around 1739 CST. The movement of the tornado was likely to the southeast. Strong outflow winds to the north of the tornado circulation likely caused damage to an irrigation pivot four miles north of Panhandle.

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

12 minutes of warning. NWS AMA issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:24 UTC, 12 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:48 UTC and running to 01:57 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:02 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.

Amarillo - Rick Husband Intl (AMA), 33 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 33 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:34 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 2009 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

21 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.