Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2012
EF0 tornado, Brenham Muni Arpt to Prairie Hill, Texas, January 25, 2012
From Brenham Muni Arpt to Prairie Hill, this EF0 tornado ran 2.1 miles across Washington County on January 25, 2012, touching down at 7:17 AM CST 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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- January 25, 2012
- Touchdown
- 7:17 AM CST (13:17 UTC)
- Lifted
- 7:20 AM CST (13:20 UTC)
- On the ground
- 3 minutes
- Path length
- 2.1 miles (3.3 km)
- Path width
- 50 yards (46 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $30,000
- County
- Washington County
- Touchdown point
- 30.232, -96.373
- Lift-off point
- 30.248, -96.344
- Record number
- 1201250717-01
What the Weather Service recorded
Severe thunderstorms produced tornado and wind damage along with some flash flooding.
This EF-0 tornado initially touched down west of County Road 50 just north of the Brenham Municipal Airport and traveled to the east and northeast toward the intersection of FM 2621 and County Road 65. The tornado destroyed several metal outbuildings and removed the roof from a barn. It also produced minor roof damage to a home and snapped numerous large trees.
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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 09:27 UTC and running to 16:27 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09:27 UTC | 16:27 UTC | Tornado Watch | HGX |
| 11:49 UTC | 18:00 UTC | Wind Advisory | HGX |
| 12:12 UTC | 13:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX |
| 12:43 UTC | 13:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | HGX |
| 13:16 UTC | 14:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX |
| 13:22 UTC | 14:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | HGX |
| 13:23 UTC | 14:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | HGX |
| 15:14 UTC | 18:15 UTC | Flood Advisory | HGX |
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 12:54 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.
Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), 12:00Z
1.3 hours before the tornado, 295 km from the path. January 25, 2012.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1968 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -2 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 3189 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 518 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 45 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 38 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 280 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 344 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 3.5
- Supercell composite
- 21.9
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.1 K/km
Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), 00:00Z
10.7 hours after it, 295 km from the path. January 26, 2012.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -68104 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 42 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1367 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 85 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 18 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -143 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -67 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 5.8 K/km
The radar
The Ft Hood radar (KGRK), 112 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 13:14 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12:30 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Caldwell | Burleson, TX | TREES DOWN ALONG FM 975 IN CALDWELL. |
| 12:43 UTC | TORNADO 1 | 7 Ssw Caldwell | Burleson, TX | SWATH OF DAMAGE EXTENDED FROM JUST NORTHEAST OF DEANVILLE TO JUST SOUTHEAST OF CALDWELL. DAMAGE APPEARED TORNADIC ALONG SOUTHERN PORTION OF THAT AREA WITH NUMEROUS TREES SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONE HOUSE WAS PUSHED OFF A CI |
| 12:43 UTC | TORNADO | 7 Ssw Caldwell | Burleson, TX | SWATH OF DAMAGE EXTENDED FROM JUST NORTHEAST OF DEANVILLE TO JUST SOUTHEAST OF CALDWELL. DAMAGE APPEARED TORNADIC ALONG SOUTHERN PORTION OF THAT AREA WITH NUMEROUS TREES SNAPPED OR UPROOTED. ONE HOUSE WAS PUSHED OFF A CI |
| 12:45 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 S Caldwell | Burleson, TX | TREES DOWN AND ROOF DAMAGE AT FM 975 AT SECOND CREEK. 1 HOME AND 4 BARNS DAMAGED IN DEANVILLE AT CR 116 AND FM 111. TREE AND ROOF DAMAGE AT FM 111 AND CR 121. BUILDING DAMAGE AT SOUTH OF FM 60 AND SOUTH OF HIGHWAY 36. |
| 13:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 N Giddings | Lee, TX | SEVERAL TREES BLOWN DOWN AND SOME BUILDING DESTROYED. |
| 13:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 6 N Somerville | Burleson, TX | TIN CONSTUCTED TIRE SHOP ON HWY 36 DESTROYED. |
| 13:15 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Bryan | Brazos, TX | DAMAGE TO GARAGE DOOR AND AND ROOF DAMAGE TO HOUSE AT INTERSECTION OF HWY 30 AND FM 158. |
| 13:15 UTC | TSTM WND GST 0 | Brenham | Washington, TX | 70 MPH GUST AT BRENHAM AWOS. |
| 13:15 UTC | TSTM WND GST 70 | Brenham | Washington, TX | 70 MPH GUST AT BRENHAM AWOS. |
| 13:17 UTC | TORNADO 0 | Brenham | Washington, TX | EF0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN WEST OF COUNTY ROAD 50 JUST TO THE NORTH OF BRENHAM MUNICIPAL AIRPORT. THE TORNADO TRAVELED TO NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF FM262 AND CR65. IT DESTROYED SEVERAL SMALL METAL OUTBUILDINGS, REMOVED ROOF |
| 13:17 UTC | TORNADO | Brenham | Washington, TX | FO TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN WEST OF COUNTY ROAD 50 JUST TO THE NORTH OF BRENHAM MUNICIPAL AIRPORT. THE TORNADO TRAVELED TO NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF FM262 AND CR65. IT DESTROYED SEVERAL SMALL METAL OUTBUILDINGS, REMOVED ROOF |
| 13:20 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Brenham | Washington, TX | NUMEROUS TREES DOWN AND VEHICLE DAMAGE IN DOWNTOWN BRENHAM. |
| 13:24 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | College Station | Brazos, TX | BUILDING WALL VENEER FELL DOWN AT TEXAS AVENUE AND UNIVERSITY. |
| 13:24 UTC | NON-TSTM WND DMG | College Station | Brazos, TX | BUILDING WALL VENEER FELL DOWN AT TEXAS AVENUE AND UNIVERSITY. |
| 14:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Brenham | Washington, TX | COUNTY WIDE DAMAGE INCLUDING ROOF DAMAGE AND DOWNED POWER LINES. |
| 14:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Caldwell | Burleson, TX | BARN DAMAGE. ROOF AND STRUCTURE DAMAGE TO HOUSE ON CR 116 IN CALDWELL. |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2012 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of January 25, 2012
24 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 25 | 2:58 AM CST | EF1 | Travis, TX | 1.1 | 50 | |||
| January 25 | 4:15 AM CST | EF0 | Bexar, TX | 0.3 | 30 | |||
| January 25 | 5:30 AM CST | EF0 | Bastrop, TX | 2.9 | 30 | $5,000 | ||
| January 25 | 6:43 AM CST | EF1 | Burleson, TX | 2.3 | 50 | $200,000 | ||
| January 25 | 8:00 AM CST | EF0 | Madison, TX | 0.5 | 50 | $10,000 | ||
| January 25 | 9:06 AM CST | EF0 | Walker, TX | 0.4 | 50 | $50,000 | ||
| January 25 | 9:09 AM CST | EF0 | Walker, TX | 0.2 | 25 | $30,000 | ||
| January 25 | 10:32 AM CST | EF1 | Rusk, TX | 1.5 | 175 | 1 | $100,000 | |
| January 25 | 10:47 AM CST | EF0 | Rusk, TX | 6.5 | 100 | |||
| January 25 | 12:05 PM CST | EF0 | Brazoria, TX | 0.2 | 75 | $15,000 | ||
| January 25 | 12:10 PM CST | EF0 | Hardin, TX | 2.5 | 25 | $10,000 | ||
| January 25 | 12:28 PM CST | EF0 | Tyler, TX | 0.4 | 10 | $20,000 | ||
| January 25 | 12:45 PM CST | EF0 | Jasper, TX | 1.0 | 20 | $5,000 | ||
| January 25 | 12:57 PM CST | EF1 | Jasper, TX | 1.6 | 25 | $50,000 | ||
| January 25 | 1:33 PM CST | EF0 | Vernon Parish, LA | 3.1 | 25 | $20,000 | ||
| January 25 | 2:01 PM CST | EF0 | Sabine Parish, LA | 2.3 | 150 | $50,000 | ||
| January 25 | 2:14 PM CST | EF0 | Vernon Parish, LA | 1.6 | 40 | $20,000 | ||
| January 25 | 3:02 PM CST | EF0 | Rapides Parish, LA | 1.8 | 20 | $50,000 | ||
| January 25 | 3:15 PM CST | EF0 | Rapides Parish, LA | 0.9 | 20 | $40,000 | ||
| January 25 | 3:52 PM CST | EF0 | Rapides Parish, LA | 1.4 | 25 | $100,000 | ||
| January 25 | 4:27 PM CST | EF1 | Calcasieu Parish, LA | 5.8 | 25 | $100,000 | ||
| January 25 | 6:21 PM CST | EF0 | Cameron Parish, LA | 0.1 | 10 | $10,000 | ||
| January 25 | 6:49 PM CST | EF1 | Copiah, MS | 3.1 | 350 | $10,000 | ||
| January 25 | 7:58 PM CST | EF0 | Lafayette Parish, LA | 0.1 | 10 | $75,000 |
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.