Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2011

EF0 tornado, (Fwh)Carswell Afb Ft, Texas, May 11, 2011

This EF0 tornado ran 0.5 miles across Tarrant County on May 11, 2011, touching down at 1:55 PM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $30,000 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 11, 2011
Touchdown
1:55 PM CDT (18:55 UTC)
Lifted
1:56 PM CDT (18:56 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.5 miles (0.8 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$30,000
County
Tarrant County
Touchdown point
32.748, -97.476
Lift-off point
32.753, -97.470
Record number
1105111255-01

The damage survey

5 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS FWD, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 85 mph.

  • fences down on jensen and dale

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

What the Weather Service recorded

Scattered thunderstorms developed along a dryline during the early afternoon hours. These storms consolidated into a couple of linear mesoscale convective systems that produced wind damage mainly north of the Interstate 20 corridor. During the evening hours, storms consolidated into a long quasi-linear convective system across the CWA. Isolated reports of large hail and wind damage occurred during the evening hours as well as heavy rainfall which led to localized flash flooding. Two EF-0 tornadoes also occurred on this day; one in Cooke County and the second in Tarrant County.

An EF-0 tornado occurred in White Settlement east of Loop 820 and south of White Settlement Road. Initially, tree limbs and fences were knocked down and minor roof damage was observed. The tornado then traveled into Central Park where it snapped at least three light poles and destroyed a storage shed. A convergent pattern to the damage helped verify the occurrence of a brief tornado. Maximum estimated winds were 75 to 85 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.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 15:22 UTC and running to 20:50 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
15:22 UTC20:50 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchFWD
18:37 UTC19:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm 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 16:38 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

6.9 hours before the tornado, 19 km from the path. May 11, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2011-05-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1949 joules per kilogram, CIN -156, lifted condensation level 622 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, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2011-05-11The 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 244 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
1949 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-156 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2557 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
622 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
42 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
244 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
274 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.5
Supercell composite
4.8
0-3 km lapse rate
4.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

5.1 hours after it, 19 km from the path. May 12, 2011.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2011-05-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 26 joules per kilogram, CIN -441, lifted condensation level 1482 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, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2011-05-12The 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 270 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 41 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
26 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-441 J/kg
Surface CAPE
50 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1482 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
270 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
219 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 25 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:53 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
18:19 UTCTSTM WND GST 706 Sw WeatherfordParker, TXBETHEL ROAD AND HORSESHOE BEND ROAD
18:33 UTCTSTM WND GST 661 N SpringtownParker, TX
18:42 UTCTSTM WND DMGBridgeportWise, TXPOWER LINES DOWN AT FM 2123 AND SH 114 IN BRIDGEPORT
18:45 UTCTSTM WND DMGDecaturWise, TXRESTAURANT SIGN DAMAGE ALONG 287 IN DECATUR; TIME ESTIMATED BY RADAR
18:54 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Nne RhomeWise, TXTRACTOR TRAILERS BLOWN OFF ROAD AT THE INTERSECTION OF HWY 287 AND FM 407; ESTIMATED 65 MPH WINDS.
18:55 UTCTSTM WND DMG6 Nne RhomeWise, TXROOF OFF HOME AND POWER POLES SNAPPED ON FM 2264 APPROX. 3 TO 4 MI WEST OF DENTON COUNTY LINE.
18:58 UTCTSTM WND DMGWhite SettlementTarrant, TXMETAL LIGHT POLES BENT IN HALF, POWER POLES SNAPPED, AND 1 FT DIAMETER TREE SNAPPED IN HALF. WINDS ESTIMATED NEAR 65 MPH.
19:04 UTCTSTM WND GST 58Fort WorthTarrant, TXMEASURED 50 KTS AT NWS OFFICE IN FORT WORTH
19:10 UTCHAIL 11 N KellerTarrant, TXINTERSECTION OF ROANOKE AND KNOX IN NORTH KELLER
19:33 UTCTSTM WND GST 65IrvingDallas, TX65 MPH WIND GUST MEASURED IN IRVING

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2011 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 11, 2011

15 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 111:40 PM CDTEF0Adams, NE0.125$25,000
May 112:30 PM CDTEF0Cooke, TX1.675$18,000
May 112:50 PM CDTEF1Hamilton, NE2.3200$150,000
May 113:00 PM CDTEF1Polk, NE2.375$100,000
May 114:20 PM CDTEF0Taylor, IA0.230
May 114:38 PM CDTEF1Taylor, IA0.7440$5.0 million
May 114:45 PM CDTEF1Taylor, IA1.0400$10 million
May 114:58 PM CDTEF0Adams, IA0.430
May 116:11 PM CDTEF0Mayes, OK0.550$10,000
May 116:47 PM CDTEF1Delaware, OK1.5200$250,000
May 116:53 PM CDTEF0Sioux, IA0.550
May 117:07 PM CDTEF0Osceola, IA0.550
May 117:23 PM CDTEF0McDonald, MO0.875$10,000
May 118:21 PM CDTEF0Bates, MO8.550$500
May 118:35 PM CDTEF0St. Clair, MO2.750$8,000

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.