Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2012

EF0 tornado, Hitchcock Volk Arpt, Texas, January 9, 2012

This EF0 tornado ran 0.6 miles across Galveston County on January 9, 2012, touching down at 12:56 PM CST and reaching 50 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
January 9, 2012
Touchdown
12:56 PM CST (18:56 UTC)
Lifted
12:58 PM CST (18:58 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
0.6 miles (0.9 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$50,000
County
Galveston County
Touchdown point
29.407, -95.029
Lift-off point
29.407, -95.020
Record number
1201091256-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Severe thunderstorms developed across southeast Texas and produced hail, wind damage, flash flooding and tornadoes.

This EF-0 tornado was observed by a police officer to touch down in the Mall of the Mainland parking lot. Tree limbs were downed and some shallow rooted trees were knocked over. A combination of tornadic winds and heavy rainfall likely contributed to some Mall roof damage. Another witness in an adjacent subdivision just to the east of the Mall observed swirling debris approaching the area, and the tornado threw a neighbor's shed back toward the left before lifting.

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

The warnings

17 minutes of warning. NWS HGX issued a tornado warning for this county at 18:39 UTC, 17 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 19:15 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
16:33 UTC17:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGX
17:06 UTC20:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningHGX
17:26 UTC18:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGX
17:35 UTC18:00 UTCTornado WarningHGX
18:27 UTC19:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGX
18:39 UTC19:15 UTCTornado WarningHGX
19:16 UTC19:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGX
20:05 UTC20:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGX
20:16 UTC22:30 UTCFlash Flood WarningHGX

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 16:08 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.

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 12:00Z

6.9 hours before the tornado, 193 km from the path. January 9, 2012.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 2012-01-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 610 joules per kilogram, CIN -7, lifted condensation level 546 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 2012-01-09The 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 108 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 67 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
610 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-7 J/kg
Surface CAPE
709 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
546 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
67 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
108 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
169 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.6
Supercell composite
4.4
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 00:00Z

5.1 hours after it, 193 km from the path. January 10, 2012.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 2012-01-10Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 320 joules per kilogram, CIN -35, lifted condensation level 461 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°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, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 2012-01-10The 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 202 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 51 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
320 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-35 J/kg
Surface CAPE
377 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
461 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
51 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
202 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
299 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.3
Supercell composite
2.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 9 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:54 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
16:07 UTCFLASH FLOOD5 Sw HoustonHarris, TXHOUSTON FIRE DEPARTMENT WORKING NUMEROUS HIGH WATER RESCUES SOUTHWEST HOUSTON.
17:15 UTCTORNADO3 Ese Brazos Bend StateBrazoria, TXBARN DAMAGED...SHED DESTROYED. TORNADO RATED EF0.
17:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Sse BonneyBrazoria, TXROOF BLOWN OFF. DEBRIS IN TREES. COUNTY ROAD 49. POSSIBLE TORNADO.
17:32 UTCTORNADO3 Sse BonneyBrazoria, TXSHED DESTROYED. TOP OF A RICE DRYER RIPPED OFF AND THROWN. TORNADO RATED EFO.
17:34 UTCTORNADO2 Se BonneyBrazoria, TXTWO EMPTY TRACTOR TRAILORS TRAVELLING IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS ON 288 WERE PUSHED OFF THE ROAD NEAR INTERSECTION WITH CR 48. DRIVERS REPORTED TRUCKS BEING PUSHED AND LIFTED. TORNADO RATED EF0.
17:35 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Se BonneyBrazoria, TXTWO TRACTOR TRAILERS BLOWN OVER AROUND INTERSECTION OF 288 AND COUNTY ROAD 48. POSSIBLE TORNADO.
17:35 UTCFLASH FLOOD2 Nne First ColonyFort Bend, TXSTRANDED MOTORISTS SETTLERS WAY AND LEXINGTON BLVD.
18:38 UTCFUNNEL CLOUDSanta FeGalveston, TX
18:39 UTCTSTM WND DMGSanta FeGalveston, TXTREE DOWN CEMETERY ROAD.
18:55 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Sse DickinsonGalveston, TXTREES AND FENCES DOWN ALONG WESTWOOD LOOP IN LA MARQUE TEXAS. POSSIBLE TORNADO.
18:55 UTCTORNADO 04 Se DickinsonGalveston, TXSTORM SURVEY RATED THE DAMAGE FROM A TORNADO AS EF-0. LAW ENFORCEMENT WITNESSED TOUCH DOWN NEAR MALL OF THE MAINLAND IN TEXAS CITY. WINDOWS BLOWN OUT OF VEHICLES IN PARKING LOT. ROOF OF MALL DAMAGED. SEVERAL SHALLOW ROOT
19:00 UTCTORNADO4 Se DickinsonGalveston, TXLAW ENFORCEMENT WITNESSED TOUCH DOWN NEAR MALL OF THE MAINLAND IN TEXAS CITY. NO REPORTS OF DAMAGE THUS FAR.

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 9, 2012

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 98:45 AM CSTEF0Fort Bend, TX0.120$5,000
January 99:05 AM CSTEF1Fort Bend, TX0.550$500,000
January 911:15 AM CSTEF0Brazoria, TX0.150$15,000
January 911:32 AM CSTEF0Brazoria, TX0.150$20,000
January 911:34 AM CSTEF0Brazoria, TX0.350$10,000

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.