Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2010

EF0 tornado, Lagarteo, Texas, May 25, 2010

This EF0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Live Oak County on May 25, 2010, touching down at 11:30 AM CDT and reaching 25 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $5,000 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
May 25, 2010
Touchdown
11:30 AM CDT (16:30 UTC)
Lifted
11:31 AM CDT (16:31 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.2 miles (0.3 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$5,000
County
Live Oak County
Touchdown point
28.071, -98.017
Lift-off point
28.073, -98.016
Record number
1005251030-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Severe storms during the afternoon of the 25th produced flash flooding, wind damage and one tornado across portions of the inland Coastal Bend.

An NWS Storm Survey concluded a brief EF-0 tornado touched down on a ranch in extreme southern Live Oak County. Damage to deer pins and metal animal shelters and awnings occurred. Limbs were sheared off some smaller trees and one large mesquite tree was broken in half. One awning and one deer were carried 50 yards over fences and deposited in a separate pin. Two deer sustained minor injuries. Winds were estimated around 70 mph. A Davis Weather Instrument on-site measured a peak wind gust of 72 mph.

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
13:38 UTC14:20 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningCRP
16:54 UTC18:45 UTCFlood AdvisoryCRP

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 16:30 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

4.5 hours before the tornado, 77 km from the path. May 25, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Corpus Christi, TX at 12:00Z on 2010-05-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2458 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 491 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Corpus Christi, TX at 12:00Z on 2010-05-25The 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 44 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 28 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
2458 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3428 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
491 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
44 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
69 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.9
Supercell composite
5.5
0-3 km lapse rate
5.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

7.5 hours after it, 77 km from the path. May 26, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Corpus Christi, TX at 00:00Z on 2010-05-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1240 joules per kilogram, CIN -32, lifted condensation level 678 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, Corpus Christi, TX at 00:00Z on 2010-05-26The 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 -7 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 27 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
1240 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-32 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2301 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
678 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-7 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
70 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-0.0
Supercell composite
-0.3
0-3 km lapse rate
6.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Orange Grove (NOG), 19 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
14:53 UTC7976140° 9 kt171011.5
15:53 UTC7975140° 8 kt1012.2VCTS
16:53 UTC696820° 6 kt1012.9+TSRA BR
17:53 UTC696750° 19 kt311013.5-TSRA BR

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

The radar

The Corpus Christi radar (KCRP), 59 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 16:30 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
16:30 UTCTSTM WND GST 7210 Nnw Orange GroveLive Oak, TXDAVIS INSTRUMENT MEASURED GUST. SEVERAL LARGE TREES DOWN AND NUMEROUS BRANCHES. END OF FARM ROAD 308.
16:30 UTCTSTM WND GST 723 Nw Orange GroveJim Wells, TXDAVIS INSTRUMENT MEASURED GUST. SEVERAL LARGE TREES DOWN AND NUMEROUS BRANCHES. END OF FARM ROAD 308.
16:30 UTCTORNADO 010 Nnw Orange GroveLive Oak, TXSTORM SURVEY INDICATED A BRIEF EF0 TORNADO TOUCHDOWN ON A RANCH IN EXTREME SOUTHERN LIVE OAK COUNTY. DAMAGE TO DEER PINS AND METAL ANIMAL SHELTER/AWNINGS OCCURRED WITH LIMBS SHEARED OFF SOME SMALLER TREES AND ONE LARGE M
17:00 UTCTSTM WND DMGMathisSan Patricio, TX12 INCH TREE DOWNS. AT LEAST ONE FROM LIGHTNING AND OTHERS FROM WIND.
18:30 UTCHEAVY RAIN 3.7Orange GroveJim Wells, TXWATER ON ROADS UP TO SEVERAL INCHES.

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 May 25, 2010

29 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 252:10 PM CDTEF0Peoria, IL0.715
May 253:13 PM MDTEF0Roosevelt, NM0.310
May 253:31 PM MDTEF0Kiowa, CO0.050
May 253:31 PM MDTEF0Kiowa, CO0.175
May 253:32 PM MDTEF0Kiowa, CO0.175
May 253:37 PM MDTEF0Kiowa, CO0.4100
May 253:41 PM MDTEF0Kiowa, CO0.250
May 253:48 PM MDTEF0Kiowa, CO0.150
May 253:48 PM MDTEF0Kiowa, CO0.350
May 253:55 PM MDTEF0Curry, NM0.110
May 253:55 PM MDTEF0Kiowa, CO0.375
May 253:56 PM MDTEF0Kiowa, CO0.150
May 253:56 PM MDTEF0Kiowa, CO0.250
May 254:07 PM MDTEF0Kiowa, CO1.275
May 254:18 PM MDTEF0Kiowa, CO0.250
May 255:17 PM MDTEF0Greeley, KS0.810
May 255:20 PM MDTEF0Kiowa, CO0.150
May 255:49 PM MDTEF0Greeley, KS0.625
May 257:52 PM CDTEF0Castro, TX0.250
May 258:06 PM CDTEF0Gove, KS0.310
May 258:11 PM CDTEF0Castro, TX0.120
May 258:14 PM CDTEF0Castro, TX0.120
May 258:14 PM CDTEF0Gove, KS4.875
May 258:26 PM CDTEF1Gove, KS21.375$23,000
May 258:44 PM CDTEF1Gove, KS9.950$25,000
May 257:52 PM MDTEF0Baca, CO1.175$10,000
May 258:00 PM MDTEF1Baca, CO2.5300$5,000
May 2510:04 PM CDTEF0Trego, KS5.9150
May 2510:20 PM CDTEF0Ellis, KS6.975

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.