Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2009

EF0 tornado, Cleveland, Texas, March 27, 2009

Name: EF0 tornado, Cleveland, Texas, March 27, 2009
Start: 2009-03-27T21:32:00.000Z
End: 2009-03-27T21:33:00.000Z
Location: Cleveland, Texas

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Liberty County on March 27, 2009, touching down at 4:32 PM CDT and reaching 15 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $35,000 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.

EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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: March 27, 2009
Touchdown: 4:32 PM CDT (21:32 UTC)
Lifted: 4:33 PM CDT (21:33 UTC)
On the ground: 1 minutes
Path length: 0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width: 15 yards (14 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $35,000
County: Liberty County
Touchdown point: 30.342, -95.086
Lift-off point: 30.342, -95.086
Record number: 0903271532-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Scattered thunderstorms developed ahead of an approaching dry line and cold front ushered into the area by a strong upper level low pressure system moving across the Texas/Oklahoma border. Thunderstorms first developed during the mid-morning hours near Austin and spread eastward into Burleson and Brazos counties by 11 AM. Additional activity later in the day began with a cell forming near Brenham that became severe and prompted several severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings as it moved east across portions of Grimes, Montgomery, and Liberty counties. Additional thunderstorm development to the south of this storm produced numerous reports of hail up to the size of baseballs in Harris County, including reports at both Bush Intercontinental and William P. Hobby airports. The event ended as the thunderstorms moved out of the Houston/Galveston County Warning Area by 7 PM.

There was a brief tornado in Cleveland in which witnesses observed a funnel cloud with swirling dust and debris at the surface. A loosely-attached roof was lifted from a business and carried 50 yards into a hospital parking lot. The windows of another business were blown out.

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

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Houston/Galveston, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Mar 27, 3:28 PM CDT, 1 hour 4 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 27, 3:28 PM CDT, 1 hour 4 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
328 PM CDT FRI MAR 27 2009

.DISCUSSION...
STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OCCURRING OVER SOUTHEAST TEXAS THIS
AFTERNOON AHEAD OF AN APPROACHING DRYLINE AND COLD FRONT. THIS
ACTIVITY IS IN RESPONSE TO A STRONG UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM
TRANSITING ACROSS THE RED RIVER TODAY AND TOMORROW. AT 3PM DRYLINE
WAS APPROACHING OUR WESTERN COUNTIES AND WILL RAPIDLY MOVE EAST
ACROSS THE REGION. SKIES WILL CLEAR RAPIDLY BEHIND THE DRYLINE AND
TEMPERATURES WILL FALL LATER TONIGHT AS THE COLD FRONT MOVES
ACROSS THE AREA. LOW TEMPS TONIGHT STILL LOOK TO DROP INTO THE 40S
WITH UPPER 30S IN OUR NORTHWESTERN COUNTIES. WINDS TONIGHT AND
TOMORROW WILL BE BRISK BUT AT THE MOMENT APPEAR TO REMAIN BELOW
WIND ADVISORY CRITERIA.

AFTER TODAYS ACTIVE WEATHER THE REST OF THE WEEK LOOKS RELATIVELY
BENIGN. RETURN FLOW WILL SET UP AGAIN LATE SUNDAY AND TEMPERATURES
WILL MODERATE AS MOISTURE LEVELS INCREASE. BOTH THE ECMWF AND GFS
ARE ADVERTISING ANOTHER MOVING ACROSS THE AREA ON TUESDAY. IT
LOOKS LIKE THERE MAY BE ENOUGH MOISTURE TO PRODUCE SOME
PRECIPITATION WITH THIS FRONT BUT WILL LEAVE THE CURRENT 20 POPS
IN PLACE FOR NOW. ALL IN ALL A PLEASANT FEW DAYS IN STORE AFTER
TODAYS UNSETTLED WEATHER. 38

&&

.MARINE...
AS PREVIOUSLY ADVERTISED...STRONG COLD FRONT PUSHING ACROSS MARINE
WATERS THIS EVENING WITH VERY TIGHT PRESSURE GRADIENT BEHIND BOUNDARY.
WAVE HEIGHTS WILL RAPIDLY INCREASE ESPECIALLY FOR THE OFFSHORE
WATERS LATE THIS EVENING THROUGH REST OF NIGHT. SCA FOR MARINE
WATERS TONIGHT THROUGH SATURDAY WITH WINDS GRADUALLY WEAKENING LATE
SATURDAY AS HIGH PRESSURE SETTLES OVER REGION. WEAK ONSHORE FLOW
WILL BE EVIDENT LATE IN THE WEEKEND WITH HIGH PRESSURE SHIFTING EAST
OF REGION. ONSHORE FLOW WILL STRENGTHEN EARLY NEXT WEEK IN RESPONSE
TO FALLING PRESSURES OVER THE WESTERN HIGH PLAINS. 37

&&

.AVIATION...
STRONG STORMS CONTINUING TO DEVELOP OVER THE NORTHERN PORTIONS OF
CWFA. WILL CONTINUE WITH TEMPO FOR CXO/UTS AND CLL WITH TSGR
FOR REST OF AFTERNOON. WEAKER CONVECTION DEVELOPING OVER THE
SOUTHERN PORTIONS. WINDS SHOULD BECOME MORE WESTERLY IN DIRECTION
PRIOR TO FRONTAL PASSAGE. FRONT SHOULD MOVE THROUGH CLL LATE THIS
AFTERNOON AND APPROACH CENTRAL PORTIONS OF CWFA INCLUDING IAH BY
MID EVENING. CEILINGS RAPIDLY BREAKING UP ONCE FRONT PASSES THROUGH.
37

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
COLLEGE STATION (CLL)      38  62  34  70  50 /  10   0   0   0   0
HOUSTON (IAH)              42  61  40  69  52 /  20   0   0   0   0
GALVESTON (GLS)            49  62  47  68  61 /  20   0   0   0   0

&&

.HGX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
TX...NONE.
GM...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 6 PM CDT SATURDAY
     FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES: GALVESTON BAY...MATAGORDA BAY.

     SMALL CRAFT SHOULD EXERCISE CAUTION FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING TO
     MIDNIGHT CDT TONIGHT FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES: GALVESTON
     BAY...MATAGORDA BAY.

     SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING TO 6 PM CDT SATURDAY
     FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES: WATERS FROM FREEPORT TO THE
     MATAGORDA SHIP CHANNEL 20 NM TO 60 NM...WATERS FROM
     FREEPORT TO THE MATAGORDA SHIP CHANNEL OUT 20 NM...WATERS
     FROM HIGH ISLAND TO FREEPORT 20 TO 60 NM...WATERS FROM HIGH
     ISLAND TO FREEPORT OUT 20 NM.

&&

DISCUSSION...38

Hazardous weather outlook, Mar 27, 4:33 AM CDT, 11 hours 59 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
433 AM CDT FRI MAR 27 2009

GMZ330-335-350-355-370-375-TXZ163-164-176>179-195>200-210>214-226-
227-235>238-281200-
AUSTIN-BRAZORIA-BRAZOS-BURLESON-CHAMBERS-COLORADO-FORT BEND-
GALVESTON-GALVESTON BAY-GRIMES-HARRIS-HOUSTON-JACKSON-LIBERTY-
MADISON-MATAGORDA-MATAGORDA BAY-MONTGOMERY-POLK-SAN JACINTO-
TRINITY-WALKER-WALLER-WASHINGTON-
WATERS FROM FREEPORT TO THE MATAGORDA SHIP CHANNEL 20 NM TO 60 NM-
WATERS FROM FREEPORT TO THE MATAGORDA SHIP CHANNEL OUT 20 NM-
WATERS FROM HIGH ISLAND TO FREEPORT 20 TO 60 NM-
WATERS FROM HIGH ISLAND TO FREEPORT OUT 20 NM-WHARTON-
433 AM CDT FRI MAR 27 2009

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS.

...SLIGHT CHANCE OF SEVERE STORMS THIS AFTERNOON...

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

A STRONG UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL MOVE ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PLAINS
TODAY AND TONIGHT AND WILL DRAG A DRYLINE AND COLD FRONT INTO THE
REGION THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THESE FEATURES WILL TRIGGER
SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE AREA
THIS AFTERNOON. ISOLATED SEVERE STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE EAST OF A
BRENHAM TO FREEPORT LINE THIS AFTERNOON.

BREEZY CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED IN THE WAKE OF THE FRONT THIS
EVENING AND TONIGHT. A WIND ADVISORY MAY BE REQUIRED FOR THE
COASTAL COUNTIES. A SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED FOR THE
COASTAL WATERS WHERE GUSTS TO GALE FORCE ARE POSSIBLE.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Mar 27, 12:29 PM CDT, 4 hours 3 minutes before

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
1229 PM CDT FRI MAR 27 2009

TXZ196-271830-
BRAZOS-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...COLLEGE STATION...BRYAN
1229 PM CDT FRI MAR 27 2009

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS MOVING INTO BRAZOS COUNTY...

AT 1230 PM WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF STRONG STORMS
MOVING INTO BRAZOS COUNTY. THESE STORMS WILL BRING HEAVY
DOWNPOURS...LIGHTNING...WIND GUSTS TO 40 MPH...AND SMALL HAIL.
STAY TUNED TO ANY POSSIBLE WARNINGS SHOULD THE STORM STRENGTHEN. A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 5 PM.

Local storm report, Mar 27, 1:23 PM CDT, 3 hours 9 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
123 PM CDT FRI MAR 27 2009

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

1200 PM     HAIL             4 SW SNOOK              30.45N 96.51W
03/27/2009  E0.88 INCH       BURLESON           TX   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            NICKEL HAIL REPORTED ALONG FM 6O APPROX 3 MI EAST OF HWY
            36. RELAYED BY BURLESON COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE.

1217 PM     FUNNEL CLOUD     SNOOK                   30.49N 96.47W
03/27/2009                   BURLESON           TX   PUBLIC

            PUBLIC REPORTED FUNNEL CLOUD IN SNOOK. RELAYED BY
            BURLESON COUNTY SHERIFFS OFFICE.

&&

38

Local storm report, Mar 27, 1:55 PM CDT, 2 hours 37 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
155 PM CDT FRI MAR 27 2009

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0143 PM     HAIL             3 ENE MADISONVILLE      30.97N 95.86W
03/27/2009  M0.88 INCH       MADISON            TX   TRAINED SPOTTER

            NICKEL SIZED HAIL 3 MILES ENE MADISONVILLE...ON FM 1428.

&&

DHELVY

Local storm report, Mar 27, 3:29 PM CDT, 1 hour 3 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
329 PM CDT FRI MAR 27 2009

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0311 PM     HAIL             6 SE NAVASOTA           30.33N 96.02W
03/27/2009  M0.88 INCH       GRIMES             TX   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            NICKEL SIZE HAIL AT CAMP ALLEN ON FM 362.

0317 PM     HAIL             1 W MAGNOLIA            30.21N 95.77W
03/27/2009  M1.00 INCH       MONTGOMERY         TX   PUBLIC

            QUARTER SIZED HAIL 1 MILE WEST OF MAGNOLIA.

&&

DHELVY

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.

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 12:00Z

9.5 hours before the tornado, 183 km from the path. March 27, 2009.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

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: 1993 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -20 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 1984 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 509 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 34 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 5 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 28 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -15 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.2
Supercell composite: 1.2
0-3 km lapse rate: 5.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 00:00Z

2.5 hours after it, 183 km from the path. March 28, 2009.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

Mixed-layer CAPE: 3258 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -2 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 3211 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 583 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 50 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 5 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 6 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 137 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.4
Supercell composite: 5.6
0-3 km lapse rate: 5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Conroe/Montgomery County Airport (CXO), 32 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 97 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:32 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2009 tornado in Texas Every tornado in Texas since 1950 Warnings in force in Texas now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of March 27, 2009

17 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Injuries	Damage
March 27	1:30 AM CDT	EF1	Saint Tammany Parish, LA	0.3	150		$15,000
March 27	1:45 AM CDT	EF1	Hancock, MS	7.0	200		$20,000
March 27	6:37 AM CDT	EF0	Walton, FL	0.2	50
March 27	8:20 AM CDT	EF0	Jackson, FL	0.2	50		$75,000
March 27	4:32 PM EDT	EF0	Robeson, NC	2.3	20		$5,000
March 27	5:02 PM EDT	EF2	Robeson, NC	2.0	50	1	$35,000
March 27	4:10 PM CDT	EF0	Rapides Parish, LA	2.6	25		$25,000
March 27	5:13 PM EDT	EF1	Cumberland, NC	4.8	50		$225,000
March 27	6:05 PM EDT	EF1	Pitt, NC	0.8	100		$200,000
March 27	6:05 PM EDT	EF1	Greene, NC	0.7	100		$50,000
March 27	5:12 PM CDT	EF0	Hardin, TX	0.0	10
March 27	6:35 PM EDT	EF0	Sampson, NC	0.4	20		$5,000
March 27	6:40 PM EDT	EF0	Sampson, NC	0.9	20
March 27	6:41 PM EDT	EF0	Johnston, NC	2.3	20
March 27	7:20 PM EDT	EF0	Johnston, NC	0.3	20
March 27	6:27 PM CDT	EF0	Adams, MS	3.5	50		$1,000
March 27	10:57 PM CDT	EF0	Ouachita Parish, LA	1.6	75		$5,000

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.