EF2 tornado, Longview Hgts to Walkers Mill, Texas, December 23, 2009

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

December 23, 2009

Touchdown

4:39 PM CST (22:39 UTC)

Lifted

4:56 PM CST (22:56 UTC)

On the ground

17 minutes

Path length

7.0 miles (11.3 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$1.0 million

County

Harrison County

Touchdown point

32.492, -94.690

Lift-off point

32.580, -94.630

Record number

0912231639-01

A strong upper level storm system moved its way out of the southern Great Basin and into the Southern Plains during the afternoon hours of December 23rd. Strong southerly flow was found ahead of this storm system with dewpoint temperatures in the lower to middle 60s noted northward to the Interstate 20 corridor of northeast Texas and northern Louisiana. Impressive deep layer shear was noted in the warm sector across the region which was conducive for discrete storm cells during the afternoon and evening across northeast Texas. These storms spawned tornadoes and produced large hail across portions of northeast Texas. The storm system moved eastward during the predawn hours of December 24th with again, numerous storms producing tornadoes across southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana. In addition to all the storm damage...these storms were prolific rain makers with numerous reports of flash flooding across the region as well.

An EF2 tornado touched down on the East side of Longview, just west of the intersections of E Cotton Street. and Industrial Drive. The tornado then tracked north northeast causing damage to several industrial buildings along Industrial Drive, it crossed Industrial Drive just south of Hwy. 80 causing significant damage to the Fed Ex building and other surrounding industrial businesses. The tornado then crossed Hwy. 80, causing significant tree and roof damage to several homes in a residential neighborhood. The track continued north northeast as the tornado crossed Loop 281 just south of Page Road. The tornado caused major roof damage to a home on Page Road before continuing northward. The storm continued to cause tree and roof damage in a residential area before crossing Peter Bonner Road near Sandy Lane. More tree and roof damage was observed as the storm tracked into a rural area, ending south of FM 449 on Keasler Road around 4:56 PM.

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

15 minutes of warning. NWS SHV issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:24 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:01 UTC and running to 02:51 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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:58 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.

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 77 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:38 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

8 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.