Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2009

EF1 tornado, Crossroads, Texas, July 28, 2009

This EF1 tornado ran 0.4 miles across Harrison County on July 28, 2009, touching down at 9:28 AM CDT and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50,000 of property damage.

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 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

    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
EF1
Date
July 28, 2009
Touchdown
9:28 AM CDT (14:28 UTC)
Lifted
9:29 AM CDT (14:29 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.4 miles (0.6 km)
Path width
75 yards (69 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000
County
Harrison County
Touchdown point
32.422, -94.192
Lift-off point
32.422, -94.186
Record number
0907280828-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A mesoscale convective complex formed across southeast Oklahoma, southwest Arkansas and northeast Texas during the predawn hours of July 28th and spread southeast towards the Interstate 20 corridor of northeast Texas into northwest Louisiana during the day. The result was a few reports of wind damage and even a tornado across the region but the main result was excessive heavy rainfall. This rainfall resulted in numerous flooding reports across the region with several high water rescues reported and water into some homes and businesses.

An EF1 tornado touched down just north of Strickland Springs Road and just east of Grimes Road. Several trees were uprooted and snapped. Some minor damage was observed to two homes and a mobile home. A vehicle was also destroyed as a tree fell on it. There were no injuries reported. One small barn completely lost its roof. Radar signature places this area directly under a couplet. Winds were estimated at 90-100 mph.

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.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 12:58 UTC and running to 20:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:00 UTC02:00 UTCFlash Flood WatchSHV
06:18 UTC07:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHV
12:58 UTC20:00 UTCTornado WatchSHV
13:33 UTC16:30 UTCFlash Flood WarningSHV
16:22 UTC19:15 UTCFlash Flood WarningSHV
19:07 UTC22:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningSHV

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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 12:42 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.

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), 12:00Z

2.5 hours before the tornado, 42 km from the path. July 28, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Shreveport, LA at 12:00Z on 2009-07-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1892 joules per kilogram, CIN -6, lifted condensation level 472 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Shreveport, LA at 12:00Z on 2009-07-28The 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 216 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 33 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
1892 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-6 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1727 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
472 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
216 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
320 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.2
Supercell composite
10.1
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), 00:00Z

9.5 hours after it, 42 km from the path. July 29, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Shreveport, LA at 00:00Z on 2009-07-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2395 joules per kilogram, CIN -5, lifted condensation level 968 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Shreveport, LA at 00:00Z on 2009-07-29The 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 95 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 29 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
2395 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-5 J/kg
Surface CAPE
4655 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
968 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
95 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
167 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.0
Supercell composite
8.8
0-3 km lapse rate
7.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 33 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 14:27 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
13:55 UTCFLASH FLOODMarshallHarrison, TXTWO FEET OF STANDING WATER COVERING ROADS AS WELL AS ANY LOW LYING AREA COVERED IN WATER.
14:28 UTCTORNADO4 Nnw Elysian FieldsHarrison, TXAN EF1 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN JUST NORTH OF STRICKLAND SPRINGS RD AND JUST EAST OF GRIMES RD. SEVERAL TREES WERE UPROOTED AND SNAPPED. SOME MINOR DAMAGE WAS OBSERVED TO TWO HOUSES AND A MOBILE HOME. A VEHICLE WAS DESTROYED
14:41 UTCFLASH FLOODMarshallHarrison, TXSEVERAL CITY STREETS AND UNDERPASSES UNDER WATER IN THE CITY OF MARSHALL
14:50 UTCFLASH FLOOD13 Ne CarthagePanola, TXNUMEROUS ROADS UNDER WATER.
15:00 UTCFLASH FLOODMarshallHarrison, TXDAYCARE FACILITY ON W HOUSTON ST. FLOODED
15:50 UTCFLASH FLOOD13 Ne CarthagePanola, TXNUMEROUS ROADS UNDER WATER.
16:00 UTCFLASH FLOOD5 N HallsvilleHarrison, TXPAGE CREEK OUT OF BANKS WITH OVER A FOOT OF WATER IN THE ADJACENT FIELDS. ESTIMATED OVER ONE HALF THE TOTAL RAIN AMOUNT FELL BETWEEN 9 AND 10AM. 4.10 INCHES IN THE PAST 24 HOURS.
16:44 UTCHEAVY RAIN 4.98MarshallHarrison, TXSINCE 10 PM LAST NIGHT.
17:23 UTCFLASH FLOODLeighHarrison, TXWATER OVER THE ROAD AT THE INTERSECTION FM1999 AND CR9 IN LEIGH

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2009 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of July 28, 2009

4 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 281:20 PM CDTEF0Nemaha, KS0.025
July 283:43 PM CDTEF0Oktibbeha, MS0.320
July 285:32 PM CDTEF1Warren, TN0.6100$100,000
July 287:55 PM CDTEF0Limestone, AL0.230

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.