EF2 tornado, Eagle Ford to Union Bower, Texas, September 8, 2010

1. EF065 to 85 mph

   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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

September 8, 2010

Touchdown

6:10 PM CDT (23:10 UTC)

Lifted

6:20 PM CDT (23:20 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

2.7 miles (4.3 km)

Path width

516 yards (472 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$750,000

County

Dallas County

Touchdown point

32.774, -96.879

Lift-off point

32.813, -96.874

Record number

1009081710-01

The remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine moved through the western portions of north Texas dropping several inches of water in some locations and producing 8 tornadoes. Significant flash flooding occurred during the late evening hours of September 7th through September 8th. Up to 12 inches of rain fell across the area with the highest totals along the Interstate 35 corridor. Numerous high water rescues and evacuations were conducted across the region. On September 8th, an EF2 tornado moved through the western city limits of Dallas, injuring one person. Just prior to the Dallas tornado, an EF1 tornado moved through Seagoville in the southeastern portions of Dallas County. Two fatalities occurred during the event due to the flooding.

Minor roof damage on the order of EF0 damage was noted along much of the path of this tornado, but EF2 damage was observed near the intersection of Irving Blvd and Mockingbird Lane in west Dallas. Near the intersection, substantial damage occurred to a warehouse. An exterior wall of the warehouse collapsed causing part of the roof to collapse. In addition, a tractor trailer traveling on Mockingbird Lane in front of the warehouse was blown into the warehouse, and the driver sustained minor injuries. Additional stores in the industrial area near the intersection sustained roof damage and holes were ripped into some roofs. Local broadcast media recorded this tornado live as it moved north through the western portions of the city of Dallas. Maximum wind speeds were estimated to be 115 mph.

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

29 minutes of warning. NWS FWD issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:41 UTC, 29 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 22:36 UTC and running to 04:38 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 21:55 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.

Dallas/Love Field (DAL), 6 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 47 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:11 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

9 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.