EF1 tornado, Forest to Clawson, Texas, April 25, 2011

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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF1

Date

April 25, 2011

Touchdown

9:37 PM CDT (02:37 UTC)

Lifted

10:04 PM CDT (03:04 UTC)

On the ground

27 minutes

Path length

7.7 miles (12.4 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$400,000

Counties

Angelina and Cherokee counties

Touchdown point

31.457, -95.027

Lift-off point

31.447, -94.899

Record number

1104252037-01

A stationary frontal boundary remained anchored across north Texas into eastern Oklahoma during the morning hours and throughout the day of April 25th. The areas to the south and east of the frontal boundary remained moderately unstable with very strong shear in the lower levels of the atmosphere as well as the mid levels of the atmosphere. The combination of strong shear, good instability along with an upper level disturbance moving across the southern plains resulted in an outbreak of strong to severe thunderstorms. Some of these storms produced large hail, damaging thunderstorm wind gusts and isolated tornadoes.

A high end EF1 tornado began in extreme southeast Cherokee County, Texas just north of the Neches River where it caused roof damage to a home along CR 2829 and blew down several trees. The tornado continued east southeast into Angelina County where it snapped or uprooted dozens of trees and blew down powerlines along FM 1819 around the CR 13 intersection. Several homes in this area also suffered roof damage and a few outbuildings were destroyed. The tornado crossed Choppin Road near Winter Lane where dozens of more trees were snapped or uprooted and additional homes and out buildings suffered damage. Turning more northeast, the tornado continued blowing down numerous trees as it moved over Cheeseland Road and Shirley Lane. The tornado lifted on the west side of Pollock just before crossing Hwy. 69. Winds were estimated near 110 mph.

This tornado was a continuation of the tornado that moved out of Cherokee County, Texas. A high end EF1 tornado began in extreme southeast Cherokee County, Texas just north of the Neches River where it caused roof damage to a home along CR 2829 and blew down several trees. The tornado continued east southeast into Angelina County where it snapped or uprooted dozens of trees and blew down powerlines along FM 1819 around the CR 13 intersection. Several homes in this area also suffered roof damage and a few outbuildings were destroyed. The tornado crossed Choppin Road near Winter Lane where dozens of more trees were snapped or uprooted and additional homes and out buildings suffered damage. Turning more northeast, the tornado continued blowing down numerous trees as it moved over Cheeseland Road and Shirley Lane. The tornado lifted on the west side of Pollock just before crossing Hwy. 69. Winds were estimated near 110 mph.

An EF0 tornado touched down along Richardson Road northwest of Lufkin, Texas and moved eastward. Minor roof damage occurred to a mobile home at Royce Oliver Road and Richardson Road and several trees were blown down. Another home suffered minor roof damage and more trees were blown down at the FM 706/Hwy. 69 intersection.

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

12 minutes of warning. NWS SHV issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:25 UTC, 12 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:44 UTC and running to 04:57 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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:32 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 Shreveport radar (KSHV), 153 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:38 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 2011 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

45 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.