EF0 tornado, Moulton, Texas, September 7, 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

September 7, 2010

Touchdown

3:37 PM CDT (20:37 UTC)

Lifted

3:38 PM CDT (20:38 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

0.2 miles (0.3 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Lavaca County

Touchdown point

29.566, -97.150

Lift-off point

29.568, -97.150

Record number

1009071437-01

Tropical storm Hermine made landfall near the Texas/Mexico border on the night of September 6. The storm moved northward through South Texas into South Central Texas. Strong winds and flooding rain began in South Central Texas on September 7. On September 8 the winds subsided, but the flooding rain continued as the remnants of Hermine moved northward into Oklahoma. South Central Texas was hit very hard with widespread rains of 8-12 inches across much of the I-35 corridor from Austin down to San Antonio. Hardest hit area was north Austin, Round Rock, Cedar Park, and Georgetown. Sixteen inches of rain fell in Georgetown, with the Georgetown Co-op observer reporting 16.37 inches for the 2 day rain event. Williamson County reported 637 homes having been damaged by flood waters, with most having minor to major damage. No damage estimate from these residents are available. Damage estimates are near $8 million dollars for county infastructure including roads, bridges, public buildings and parks.

As tropical storm Hermine moved north, a tornado formed along highway 95 approximately one mile south of Moulton in Lavaca County. A portion of a roof was blown off an abandoned building and a tree was also uprooted on the property. The tornado moved north along the east side of Highway 95 and traveled through a corn field where the track was clearly visible. The tornado then lifted or weakened just south of Moulton after traveling 0.2 miles. Maximum wind speeds were estimated at 65 mph with a maximum width of 50 yards. This tornado was rated as an EF0 on the enhanced Fujita scale.

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

0 minutes of warning. NWS EWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:37 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:00 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:42 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.

The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 86 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:37 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

2 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.