Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2009

EF1 tornado, New Boston, Texas, November 29, 2009

This EF1 tornado ran 3.3 miles across Bowie County on November 29, 2009, touching down at 5:57 PM CST and reaching 75 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $75,000 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
November 29, 2009
Touchdown
5:57 PM CST (23:57 UTC)
Lifted
5:58 PM CST (23:58 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
3.3 miles (5.3 km)
Path width
75 yards (69 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$75,000
County
Bowie County
Touchdown point
33.474, -94.430
Lift-off point
33.478, -94.424
Record number
0911291757-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong cold front embedded with a weak short wave of low pressure aloft moved into northeast Texas and southwest Arkansas. Storms developed along this boundary and shear was excessive enough such that a weak tornado developed along the boundary. In addition, heavy rainfall occurred across the region producing some flash flooding.

An EF1 tornado briefly touched down in New Boston, Texas along Pearly Street. A mobile home was destroyed and 4 other homes sustained moderate to major damage. Several trees were uprooted. The tornado crossed Interstate 30 and quickly dissipated.

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.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
23:36 UTC00:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHV
00:25 UTC02:30 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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:44 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

12.0 hours before the tornado, 127 km from the path. November 29, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Shreveport, LA at 12:00Z on 2009-11-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 107 joules per kilogram, CIN -73, lifted condensation level 483 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 2009-11-29The 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 302 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 37 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
107 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-73 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
483 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
302 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
285 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.1
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), 00:00Z

0.0 hours before the tornado, 127 km from the path. November 30, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Shreveport, LA at 00:00Z on 2009-11-30Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 324 joules per kilogram, CIN -12, lifted condensation level 774 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 00:00Z on 2009-11-30The 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 253 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 48 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
324 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-12 J/kg
Surface CAPE
387 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
774 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
253 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
272 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.4
Supercell composite
2.2
0-3 km lapse rate
6.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Texarkana Regional/Webb (TXK), 41 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
22:29 UTC66.262.6180° 5 kt1010.8
22:45 UTC66.262.6170° 5 kt1010.5
22:53 UTC6663160° 6 kt1010.5
23:24 UTC66.262.6160° 5 kt1010.2VCTS -RA
23:34 UTC64.462.6180° 4 kt1010.5VCTS -RA
23:53 UTC64630° 0 kt1010.5TSRA
00:11 UTC64.462.6250° 11 kt221011.9+TSRA BR
00:17 UTC62.662.6210° 9 kt221011.2+TSRA BR
00:22 UTC62.662.6200° 11 kt141011.5+TSRA BR
00:40 UTC62.662.6250° 11 kt1011.5+TSRA BR
00:44 UTC62.662.6280° 9 kt1011.5+TSRA BR
00:48 UTC62.662.6300° 7 kt1011.5TSRA BR
00:53 UTC6363310° 7 kt1011.5TSRA BR
01:03 UTC62.662.6300° 3 kt1011.9+TSRA BR
01:36 UTC60.860.8340° 9 kt161012.5RA BR
01:53 UTC5958350° 7 kt1012.9RA

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

The radar

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 126 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:55 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
22:57 UTCTORNADO1 Nnw New BostonBowie, TXAN EF1 BRIEFLY TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN NEW BOSTON TEXAS ALONG PEARLY STREET. A MOBILE HOME WAS DESTROYED AND 4 OTHER HOMES SUSTAINED MODERATE TO MAJOR DAMAGE. SEVERAL TREES WERE UPROOTED. THE TORNADO CROSSED INTERSTATE 3
23:10 UTCTSTM WND DMGNew BostonBowie, TXTREES BLOWN DOWN AND DAMAGE TO SEVERAL HOMES AND POWER OUT AS WELL ON NORTH SIDE OF NEW BOSTON NORTH OF I-30. STORM SURVEY TO BE PERFORMED MONDAY.
23:57 UTCTORNADO1 Nnw New BostonBowie, TXAN EF1 BRIEFLY TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN NEW BOSTON TEXAS ALONG PEARLY STREET. A MOBILE HOME WAS DESTROYED AND 4 OTHER HOMES SUSTAINED MODERATE TO MAJOR DAMAGE. SEVERAL TREES WERE UPROOTED. THE TORNADO CROSSED INTERSTATE 3

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 November 29, 2009

1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
November 2910:57 AM MSTEF0Cochise, AZ0.150

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.