EF0 tornado, Pantex to Conway, Texas, December 14, 2012

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

December 14, 2012

Touchdown

4:17 PM CST (22:17 UTC)

Lifted

4:22 PM CST (22:22 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

3.0 miles (4.8 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Carson County

Touchdown point

35.194, -101.577

Lift-off point

35.216, -101.520

Record number

1212141617-01

An anomalously dynamic upper level system caused a rare severe weather outbreak during the afternoon and evening hours of December 14th. This outbreak was very dynamically driven with very minimal instability values. However this lack of instability was overcome by a 150 mph tropical jet streak, a negatively tilted mid-level trough, 45 mph low level jet, and the presence of a surface warm front and cold front. ||Thunderstorm initiated over eastern New Mexico as single cells, but transitioned into a linear structure along the leading edged of a surface cold front as they entered the western Texas Panhandle. Once transitioned into a linear structure, severe thunderstorm wind gusts became the primary threat. This was reflected in the storm reports as numerous thunderstorm wind gusts and wind damage were received, but only one report of 1 inch hail was received. The first report of damage for the outbreak was south-southwest of the town of Vega (Deaf Smith County) where thunderstorm downdrafts blew over center pivots used for irrigation. Several more reports of thunderstorm winds gusts between 60 and 70 mph were received from Deaf Smith, Randall, Potter, and Oldham Counties as the line of thunderstorms moved across the southern Texas Panhandle. In Oldham County three tractor trailers were overturned on US Highway 385 north of the city of Vega. ||As the thunderstorms moved across Potter and Randall County thunderstorm wind gusts of 60 to 70 mph were reported all across the counties. Two additional tractor trailers rollover accidents were reported on Interstate 27 between Amarillo (Randall County) and Canyon (Randall County), and at the intersection of McAfee Road and Washington Street on the southeast side of Amarillo (Randall County). The accident at McAfee Road and Washington Street resulted in one fatality. Given the west to east track of the line of thunderstorms, vehicles on north-south running roads faced the most hazardous driving conditions due to cross winds, and as a result all rollovers reported occurred on north-south roads. ||Also the turbulent winds near this line of thunderstorm contributed to an aircraft mishap over Armstrong County. The pilot, a locally known dentist from Colorado Springs, Co, and the passenger, the pilot���s father, were killed when their double prop Beechcraft E-90 airplane had an in-flight break-up according to a preliminary report released by the National Transportation Safety Board. The report went on to state that the turbulent air flows caused the aircraft to experience updrafts and downdrafts that tore the fuselage apart. Wreckage from the aircraft were located near the city of Claude (Armstrong County).||As the line of thunderstorms reached the eastern edge of Potter and Randall County, they reached the intersection of the cold front and warm front. The additional low level shear provided by this intersection allowed for three brief tornadoes to form in southern Carson County and central Donley County. The tornado in Carson County lasted 5 minutes and traveled three miles without causing any damage. However a trained spotter provided photographic evidence of its occurrence. Two tornadoes occurred in Donley County; one near Clarendon and another near Lelia Lake. Both lasted a minute in duration but were able to produce noticeable structural damage. All three tornadoes were classified as EF-0. ||By 6 PM CST, the line of thunderstorms became disorganized as the upper level dynamics moved further to the northeast, and no further reports of damage or severe gusts were received.

The tornado touched down three miles northeast of Washburn in Carson County at 4:17 PM CST. The tornado was on the ground for three miles with a maximum width of 200 yards. The tornado dissipated at 4:22 PM CST six miles northeast of Washburn. This tornado was rated an EF-0 with winds of 65 mph. No damage was reported with this tornado but photographic evidence was provided by BJ Shipp, a local storm spotter.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:28 UTC and running to 23:36 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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:01 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.

Amarillo - Rick Husband Intl (AMA), 14 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 15 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:17 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 2012 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.