EF0 tornado, Spearman, Texas, May 24, 2010

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

May 24, 2010

Touchdown

8:47 PM CDT (01:47 UTC)

Lifted

8:49 PM CDT (01:49 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

0.4 miles (0.6 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Hansford County

Touchdown point

36.240, -101.240

Lift-off point

36.236, -101.245

Record number

1005241947-01

Severe thunderstorms moved across much of the central and eastern sections of the Texas Panhandle during the afternoon and overnight hours. These storms produced large hail and strong thunderstorm wind gusts along with a few tornadoes and flash flooding. The only damage reported was due to the flash flooding in the south central Texas Panhandle and also from a tornado in the northern Texas Panhandle. No injuries were reported from the severe thunderstorms.

The tornado began about four miles west of Spearman Texas at 1929 CST and lifted about four miles northwest of Spearman Texas at 1942 CST. Minor damage to some structures was reported on a farmstead and also large trees were knocked down. The tornado path length and path width were estimated.

The tornado touched down at 1937 CST approximately three miles west of Spearman. The tornado was reportedly a satellite tornado which occurred within the circulation of the main tornado from 1929 CST four miles west of Spearman. The tornado lifted about 1938 CST about two and a half miles west of Spearman. The tornado remained over open country and the path length and path width were estimated. No damage or injuries were reported.

A trained spotter reported two brief tornado touchdowns within the same severe thunderstorm that produced the main tornado west of Spearman minutes earlier. The two tornadoes touched down at approximately 1947 CST roughly four miles northwest of Spearman Texas and were on the ground for about two minutes. The tornadoes occurred over open country and the tornado path length and path width were estimated. No damage or injuries were reported.

The tornado was also reported by a reliable storm spotter and touched down near Spearman Texas at 1956 CST. The tornado remained over mainly open country and lifted at 1958 CST. The path width and path length were estimated. No damage or injuries were reported.

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

15 minutes of warning. NWS AMA issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:32 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 16:48 UTC and running to 02:51 UTC.

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 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 01:00 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 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.

Pampa (BPC), 43 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 119 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:46 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

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

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

21 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.