Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2009

EF0 tornado, Edna Jackson Co Arpt, Texas, October 3, 2009

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Jackson County on October 3, 2009, touching down at 3:12 PM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $3,000 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 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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
October 3, 2009
Touchdown
3:12 PM CDT (20:12 UTC)
Lifted
3:13 PM CDT (20:13 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$3,000
County
Jackson County
Touchdown point
29.059, -96.623
Lift-off point
29.058, -96.622
Record number
0910031412-01

What the Weather Service recorded

This will be the narrative.

A few trees and four power poles were blown down between Cordele and Lake Texana near FM 530.

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

The warnings

5 minutes of warning. NWS HGX issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:07 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:45 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:07 UTC20:45 UTCTornado WarningHGX

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, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:28 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.

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), 12:00Z

8.2 hours before the tornado, 164 km from the path. October 3, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Corpus Christi, TX at 12:00Z on 2009-10-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 3300 joules per kilogram, CIN -2, lifted condensation level 468 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, Corpus Christi, TX at 12:00Z on 2009-10-03The 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 62 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 32 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
3300 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-2 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1736 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
468 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
32 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
62 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
87 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.4
Supercell composite
6.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), 00:00Z

3.8 hours after it, 164 km from the path. October 4, 2009.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Corpus Christi, TX at 00:00Z on 2009-10-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2963 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 676 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, Corpus Christi, TX at 00:00Z on 2009-10-04The 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 125 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 46 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
2963 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3421 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
676 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
125 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
212 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
3.5
Supercell composite
13.5
0-3 km lapse rate
6.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Victoria Regional (VCT), 37 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
18:27 UTC84.273.4110° 10 kt1009.5
18:35 UTC84.275.2120° 11 kt1009.5
18:51 UTC8575120° 14 kt191009.5
19:19 UTC87.877120° 13 kt1008.8
19:29 UTC87.875.2120° 12 kt1008.5
19:51 UTC8475110° 11 kt1008.5
19:55 UTC82.475.2160° 17 kt1008.5+RA
20:15 UTC7775.2 6 kt1008.1+TSRA BR
20:23 UTC75.275.2 3 kt1008.1-TSRA BR
20:43 UTC78.875.260° 5 kt1008.1BR
20:51 UTC797670° 7 kt1008.1BR
21:51 UTC797670° 8 kt1007.8-RA

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

The radar

The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 154 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:10 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
20:12 UTCTORNADO2 N GanadoJackson, TXA FEW TREES AND 4 POWER POLES BLOWN DOWN. ONE TREE DOWN ABOUT 5 MILES SOUTH OF CORDELE ON FM 530.

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

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.