Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2010

EF0 tornado, New Home, Texas, June 2, 2010

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Lynn County on June 2, 2010, touching down at 3:55 PM CDT and reaching 15 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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
June 2, 2010
Touchdown
3:55 PM CDT (20:55 UTC)
Lifted
3:57 PM CDT (20:57 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
15 yards (14 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Lynn County
Touchdown point
33.363, -101.920
Lift-off point
33.363, -101.920
Record number
1006021455-01

What the Weather Service recorded

During the late afternoon hours on the 2nd, thunderstorms developed over the southern South Plains. A small and weak non-mesocyclonic tornado formed in open fields in extreme northern Lynn County just before 15:00 CST. The tornado developed beneath initial updrafts occurring atop a stationary southwest to northeast oriented surface boundary. Other storms along the boundary quickly intensified and produced large hail over portions of Terry County. ||Later in the evening, a large complex of severe thunderstorms evolved east of the Caprock escarpment. These storms also produced large hail.

A National Weather Service meteorologist observed a short-lived landspout tornado over an open field north of New Home. The landspout tornado formed during the initiation stage of a thunderstorm which eventually showed Doppler radar-based evidence of large hail. No damage was reported.

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
21:00 UTC21:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUB
21:28 UTC22:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUB
21:43 UTC23:30 UTCFlood AdvisoryLUB
22:01 UTC22:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUB
22:14 UTC23:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUB
22:43 UTC23:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningLUB
23:02 UTC01:00 UTCFlood AdvisoryLUB

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 19:46 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.

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), 12:00Z

8.9 hours before the tornado, 159 km from the path. June 2, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 2010-06-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1687 joules per kilogram, CIN -183, lifted condensation level 1342 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 2010-06-02The 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 74 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 18 knots.1939Sfc1 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
1687 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-183 J/kg
Surface CAPE
306 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1342 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
9 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
74 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
241 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.4
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), 00:00Z

3.1 hours after it, 159 km from the path. June 3, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Midland Regional, TX at 00:00Z on 2010-06-03Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -80598, lifted condensation level 5589 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Midland Regional, TX at 00:00Z on 2010-06-03The 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 -2 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 6 knots.1939Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-80598 J/kg
Surface CAPE
6 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
5589 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
6 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-2 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
0 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
10.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Lubbock International Airport (LBB), 35 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
19:53 UTC845930° 5 kt1010.8
20:53 UTC866040° 9 kt1009.5
21:53 UTC816050° 5 kt1009.5
22:53 UTC8062110° 3 kt1009.1

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

The radar

The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 34 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:53 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
20:55 UTCTORNADO3 N New HomeLynn, TXA BRIEF WEAK LANDSPOUT TORNADO FORMED OVER AN OPEN FIELD. LOCATION ESTIMATED.
21:30 UTCHAIL 1.5MeadowTerry, TX
21:41 UTCHAIL 13 Sw MeadowTerry, TX
22:50 UTCHAIL 15 Ese WelchDawson, TX

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2010 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 2, 2010

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 22:40 PM EDTEF0Crawford, PA1.250$125,000
June 25:06 PM EDTEF0Penobscot, ME2.5500
June 25:58 PM EDTEF1Carroll, OH3.8300$125,000
June 210:47 PM CDTEF1San Patricio, TX7.6440$70,000
June 211:15 PM CDTEF0Nueces, TX0.520
June 211:18 PM CDTEF0Refugio, TX0.320
June 211:34 PM CDTEF2Aransas, TX3.8500$250,000

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.