Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2010

EF0 tornado, Heath to Lake Ray Hubbard, Texas, September 8, 2010

From Heath to Lake Ray Hubbard, this EF0 tornado ran 0.7 miles across Rockwall County on September 8, 2010, touching down at 6:20 PM CDT and reaching 108 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50,000 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
September 8, 2010
Touchdown
6:20 PM CDT (23:20 UTC)
Lifted
6:22 PM CDT (23:22 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
0.7 miles (1.1 km)
Path width
108 yards (99 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000
County
Rockwall County
Touchdown point
32.841, -96.490
Lift-off point
32.850, -96.493
Record number
1009081720-01

What the Weather Service recorded

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.

A tornado caused mainly roof damage to several brick homes on the southeast side of Lake Ray Hubbard near Heath. Another home had its chimney knocked over and some large tree damage also occurred along the path of this tornado. The winds were estimated to be between 85-95 mph.

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

The warnings

5 minutes of warning. NWS FWD issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:15 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:41 UTC.

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

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
10:59 UTC14:00 UTCFlood AdvisoryFWD
15:59 UTC08:27 UTCFlash Flood WatchFWD
17:20 UTC18:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWD
17:39 UTC20:45 UTCFlash Flood WarningFWD
20:42 UTC00:30 UTCFlood WarningFWD
22:36 UTC04:38 UTCTornado WatchFWD
23:15 UTC23:41 UTCTornado WarningFWD

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 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 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.

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 12:00Z

11.3 hours before the tornado, 75 km from the path. September 8, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2010-09-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 45 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 457 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 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, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2010-09-08The 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 281 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 45 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
45 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
142 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
457 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
281 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
315 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
3.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 00:00Z

0.7 hours after it, 75 km from the path. September 9, 2010.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2010-09-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2402 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 718 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, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2010-09-09The 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 151 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 27 knots.193958Sfc1 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
2402 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3220 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
718 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
151 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
143 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.2
Supercell composite
7.5
0-3 km lapse rate
6.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 82 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:20 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
22:15 UTCTORNADO3 S FerrisEllis, TXSPOTTER REPORTED TORNADO 3 MILES SOUTH OF FERRIS.
22:36 UTCTORNADO5 Sw SeagovilleDallas, TXLIVE VIDEO OF TORNADO SOUTHWEST OF SEAGOVILLE.
22:51 UTCTORNADOSeagovilleDallas, TXLIVE VIDEO OF TORNADO NEAR SEAGOVILLE.
22:54 UTCTORNADOSeagovilleDallas, TXDALLAS COUNTY RACES REPORTS DEBRIS ALONG HALL ST. IN SEAGOVILLE.
23:16 UTCTORNADO3 W Highland ParkDallas, TXTORNADO VISIBLE ON LIVE VIDEO 3 MILES WEST OF HIGHLAND PARK.
23:18 UTCTORNADO3 W Highland ParkDallas, TXTORNADO REPORTED IN THE 2318Z SPECIAL OBSERVATION FROM THE TOWER.

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 September 8, 2010

9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 84:18 AM CDTEF0Coryell, TX0.150
September 82:05 PM CDTEF1Bryan, OK0.1251
September 85:20 PM CDTEF0Lamar, TX1.9200$100,000
September 85:36 PM CDTEF1Ellis, TX9.9704$200,000
September 85:55 PM CDTEF0Falls, TX0.6115
September 86:10 PM CDTEF2Dallas, TX2.75161$750,000
September 87:00 PM CDTEF0Carter, OK0.125$20,000
September 87:30 PM CDTEF0Cooke, TX0.050
September 88:15 PM CDTEF0Love, OK0.110

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.