Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2012

EF0 tornado, Alley to Furguson Sta, Texas, October 12, 2012

Name: EF0 tornado, Alley to Furguson Sta, Texas, October 12, 2012
Start: 2012-10-13T00:05:00.000Z
End: 2012-10-13T00:11:00.000Z
Location: Alley to Furguson Sta, Texas

From Alley to Furguson Sta, this EF0 tornado ran 1.8 miles across Hale County on October 12, 2012, touching down at 7:05 PM CDT and reaching 200 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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: October 12, 2012
Touchdown: 7:05 PM CDT (00:05 UTC)
Lifted: 7:11 PM CDT (00:11 UTC)
On the ground: 6 minutes
Path length: 1.8 miles (2.9 km)
Path width: 200 yards (183 m)
Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
County: Hale County
Touchdown point: 33.942, -101.796
Lift-off point: 33.959, -101.772
Record number: 1210121805-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Unusually moist air for mid-October was carried into the Texas South Plains on the 11th ahead of a vigorous upper low in the four corners region. By the afternoon of the 12th, this upper low tracked into Colorado accompanied by a strong subtropical jet that overspread the South Plains. With surface dewpoints in the mid to upper 60s and diminishing stratocumulus clouds, strong instability developed by late afternoon over the central South Plains. Very strong wind shear already in place was made even stronger near a warm front that began lifting slowly north between Lubbock and Plainview. By 1700 CST, a pair of strong and severe storms erupted near Shallowater and began moving north-northeast. One of these storms developed strong low-level rotation as it crossed the warm front near Hale Center and assumed an easterly motion. This rotation culminated in two tornadoes over open land in eastern Hale County. Earlier, this same storm produced very large hail up to baseball size that damaged several vehicle windows at a rest stop on I-27. Also, large hail up to golf ball size accompanied a left-moving supercell that raced northward near I-27. Both of these supercells decayed around 1900 CST before a third supercell late this evening entered Yoakum County from neighboring Lea County, NM. Although NWS Lubbock Doppler Radar indicated the likelihood of large hail west and northwest of Plains, this final supercell did not produce any known severe weather before it evolved into a line of strong thunderstorms while overspreading much of the South Plains before midnight.

Storm chasers observed a diffuse and intermittent tornado over open land about nine miles southeast of Hale Center. At times, this weak tornado exhibited cyclical multiple vortices rotating about the larger tornadic circulation that was estimated as wide as 200 yards wide at one point. Video evidence showed intermittent circulations at ground level throughout a period of about six minutes spanning nearly two miles in length. This otherwise weak tornado remained over farm land and caused no known damage.

Storm chasers documented a narrow and very brief EF0 tornado in a field. A small amount of debris was observed rotating in a tight fashion underneath a condensation funnel. No damage occurred.

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

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Lubbock, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at Oct 12, 3:40 PM CDT, 3 hours 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 12, 3:40 PM CDT, 3 hours 25 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX
340 PM CDT FRI OCT 12 2012

.SHORT TERM...
A TIGHT CLOSED LOW WAS SLOWLY MOVING EAST OUT OF THE GREAT BASIN
EARLY THIS FRIDAY AFTERNOON. ALTHOUGH MOST HEIGHT FALLS WILL BE
FARTHER NORTH OF THE REGION...THE SOUTH PLAINS WILL STILL SEE AROUND
30-40M OF FALLS. A BROAD AREA OF UPPER LEVEL DIVERGENCE AHEAD OF
THIS LOW IS APPARENT IN WATER VAPOR IMAGERY. A FRONT HAD MOVED
FARTHER SOUTH THAN ANTICIPATED THIS MORNING STRETCHING FROM ABOUT
HOBBS TO PADUCAH. HOWEVER...THIS FRONT WAS RETREATING BACK NORTHWARD
WITH HEATING INTO THE MID AND UPPER 70S SOUTH OF THE FRONT. THERE
WILL BE WEAK CONVERGENCE WEST OF THE AREA WHERE A DRYLINE IS
SHARPENING UP. FRONTOGENETICAL FORCING WILL ACCOMPANY THE DRYLINE IN
EASTERN NEW MEXICO THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO
STAY BACKED SOUTH OF THIS FRONTAL BOUNDARY CONTINUING TO DRAW IN
ABNORMALLY HIGH MOISTURE FOR OCTOBER. THIS INCREDIBLY HIGH MOISTURE
WILL LEAD TO SURFACE CAPES IN EXCESS OF 2000 J/KG. THERE STILL
REMAINS UNCERTAINTY ON WHETHER THIS SURFACE BASED INSTABILITY CAN BE
REALIZED GIVEN THE AMOUNT OF CLOUD COVER LIMITING HEATING. MODELS DO
SHOW ENOUGH HEATING WITH TEMPERATURES IN THE UPPER 70S TO LOWER 80S
AND ERODING ALL OF THE CIN. EARLY THIS AFTERNOON...THERE IS STILL
AROUND 100 CIN THAT NEEDS TO BE OVERCOME. AREAS NORTH OF THE FRONT
WILL STILL SEE ABUNDANT ELEVATED INSTABILITY WITH THE AMOUNT OF
MOISTURE IN THE ATMOSPHERE.

CONDITIONS WILL BECOME SOMEWHAT FAVORABLE FOR TORNADO DEVELOPMENT IF
THE CAP BREAKS. DEEP LAYER SHEAR WILL CONTINUE TO BE ON THE INCREASE
TODAY SUPPORTING ORGANIZED SUPERCELL DEVELOPMENT. EVEN THOUGH STORMS
WILL BE MOVING RAPIDLY...THE AMOUNT OF MOISTURE IN THE ATMOSPHERE
AND LOW LCLS MAY CAUSE HEAVY RAINFALL. SHEAR VECTORS FROM THE
SURFACE TO 1KM ARE PROGGED TO BE AROUND 20-25KT WITH 0-3KM HELICITY
BETWEEN 200 AND 250. ANY SUPERCELLS NEAR THE AFOREMENTIONED FRONTAL
BOUNDARY MAY BE ABLE TO INTERACT TO CREATE A HIGHER TORNADO THREAT.
OTHERWISE...LARGE HAIL WILL BE ANOTHER PRIMARY CONCERN WITH
CONVECTION.

CONVECTION WILL SHIFT EAST OVERNIGHT WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF A STOUT
50KT LOW LEVEL JET ACROSS THE ROLLING PLAINS. ADDITIONALLY...THE
PACIFIC FRONT WILL BE SWEEPING THROUGH THE AREA SATURDAY MORNING
ADDING TO THE LIFT AND CREATING A SECOND CHANCE OF STORMS. THIS
CONVECTION IS EXPECTED TO BE LINEAR RATHER THAN THIS AFTERNOON
DISCRETE CONVECTION. THESE STORMS MAY PERSIST INTO SATURDAY
AFTERNOON WITH TRAILING UPPER LEVEL LIFT FROM THE UPPER LEVEL TROUGH
AXIS. JDV

&&

.LONG TERM...
THE MID-UPPER LEVEL TROUGH ASSOCIATED WITH THE STORM SYSTEM
MENTIONED ABOVE WILL SWING THROUGH WEST TEXAS SATURDAY NIGHT AND
ALLOW DEEP-LAYER RIDGING TO BEGIN MOVING IN. SKIES WILL CONTINUE A
CLEARING TREND FROM NORTHWEST TO SOUTHEAST AS DRIER AIR SETTLES
ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PLAINS ON THE EASTERN EDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE AND
ACCOMPANYING SUBSIDENCE. SUNNY SKIES WILL PRODUCE SEASONABLE HIGHS
IN THE MID 70S TO NEAR 80 ACROSS THE SOUTH PLAINS AND EXTREME
SOUTHERN PANHANDLE AND LOW-MID 80S THROUGHOUT THE ROLLING
PLAINS...WITH WINDS OUT OF THE NORTH AT 10-15 MPH.

NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL KEEP CONDITIONS DRY HEADING INTO EARLY
NEXT WEEK...BEFORE A SHORTWAVE TROUGH APPROACHES OUT OF THE
SOUTHWEST MONDAY NIGHT INTO TUESDAY. NUMERICAL GUIDANCE SOLUTIONS
VARY IN THE DEGREE OF MOISTURE RETURN AND ASSOCIATED PRECIPITATION
CHANCES. HAVE LEFT THE FORECAST DRY AT THIS POINT BUT WILL MONITOR
THIS SYSTEM IN THE COMING DAYS. THIS WAVE OF UPPER-LEVEL ENERGY AND
ANY RESIDUAL RAINFALL LOOK TO PUSH EAST BY WEDNESDAY
MORNING...PLACING WEST TEXAS BACK IN A DRY AND QUIET NORTHWEST FLOW
REGIME WITH SEASONABLE TEMPERATURES THROUGH LATE WEEK INTO THE
WEEKEND.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
FRIONA        52  73  42  77  43 /  70   0   0   0   0
TULIA         57  75  46  77  46 /  70  10   0   0   0
PLAINVIEW     57  77  47  78  47 /  70  10   0   0   0
LEVELLAND     59  77  48  79  49 /  70  10   0   0   0
LUBBOCK       63  78  49  80  50 /  70  10   0   0   0
DENVER CITY   60  77  49  79  50 /  70   0   0   0   0
BROWNFIELD    60  78  49  80  50 /  60  10   0   0   0
CHILDRESS     64  82  52  84  50 /  60  40   0   0   0
SPUR          64  80  52  80  51 /  60  30   0   0   0
ASPERMONT     67  82  54  84  53 /  50  40   0   0   0

&&

.LUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NONE.
&&

01/31

Hazardous weather outlook, Oct 12, 12:13 PM CDT, 6 hours 52 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX
1213 PM CDT FRI OCT 12 2012

TXZ021>044-131715-
PARMER-CASTRO-SWISHER-BRISCOE-HALL-CHILDRESS-BAILEY-LAMB-HALE-
FLOYD-MOTLEY-COTTLE-COCHRAN-HOCKLEY-LUBBOCK-CROSBY-DICKENS-KING-
YOAKUM-TERRY-LYNN-GARZA-KENT-STONEWALL-
1213 PM CDT FRI OCT 12 2012

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE EXTREME SOUTHERN TEXAS
PANHANDLE...SOUTH PLAINS AND ROLLING PLAINS.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

CONVECTIVE

A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS CONTINUES THIS AFTERNOON
AND EVENING ACROSS MOST OF THE TEXAS SOUTH PLAINS REGION. LARGE
HAIL...DAMAGING WIND GUSTS...AND LOCALLY FLOODING RAINS WILL BE
THE PRIMARY THREATS. THERE ALSO WILL BE A RISK FOR ISOLATED
TORNADOES...ESPECIALLY NEAR THE NEW MEXICO BORDER. A STRONG UPPER
LEVEL STORM SYSTEM ACROSS THE MOJAVE DESERT WILL SWING INTO THE
CENTRAL ROCKIES TONIGHT...WHILE A SURFACE FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL
SLOWLY LIFT NORTHWARD THROUGH THE TEXAS SOUTH PLAINS LATER TODAY.
THE MOST PROBABLE SCENARIO IS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF STRONG OR SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS AND POSSIBLY SUPERCELLS LATE THIS AFTERNOON OVER THE
SOUTHWESTERN SOUTH PLAINS NEAR THE NEW MEXICO BORDER. ACTIVITY IS
EXPECTED TO TRANSFORM INTO EITHER CLUSTERS OR LINES AND MOVE
NORTHEASTWARD ACROSS THE AREA LATER TODAY AND TONIGHT.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY

THE PROBABILITY OF WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY THIS
EVENING.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Oct 12, 6:07 PM CDT, 58 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX
607 PM CDT FRI OCT 12 2012

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0606 PM     HAIL             SHALLOWATER             33.69N 101.99W
10/12/2012  E1.00 INCH       LUBBOCK            TX   BROADCAST MEDIA

&&

EVENT NUMBER LUB1200392

JGD

Local storm report, Oct 12, 6:21 PM CDT, 44 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX
621 PM CDT FRI OCT 12 2012

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0621 PM     HAIL             HALE CENTER             34.06N 101.84W
10/12/2012  E2.00 INCH       HALE               TX   TRAINED SPOTTER

0621 PM     TSTM WND GST     HALE CENTER             34.06N 101.84W
10/12/2012  E65 MPH          HALE               TX   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

EVENT NUMBER LUB1200393
EVENT NUMBER LUB1200394

JGD

Local storm report, Oct 12, 6:40 PM CDT, 25 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX
640 PM CDT FRI OCT 12 2012

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0639 PM     HAIL             6 N ABERNATHY           33.93N 101.85W
10/12/2012  M2.00 INCH       HALE               TX   TRAINED SPOTTER

&&

EVENT NUMBER LUB1200395

JGD

Local storm report, Oct 12, 6:49 PM CDT, 16 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX
649 PM CDT FRI OCT 12 2012

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0648 PM     HAIL             6 S HALE CENTER         33.98N 101.84W
10/12/2012  E2.75 INCH       HALE               TX   TRAINED SPOTTER

            CRACKED WINDSHIELD

&&

EVENT NUMBER LUB1200396

JGD

Local storm report, Oct 12, 6:58 PM CDT, 7 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX
658 PM CDT FRI OCT 12 2012

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0658 PM     HAIL             HALE CENTER             34.06N 101.84W
10/12/2012  E2.75 INCH       HALE               TX   SKYWARN SPOTTER

&&

EVENT NUMBER LUB1200397

JGD

Local storm report, Oct 12, 7:04 PM CDT, 1 minute before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX
704 PM CDT FRI OCT 12 2012

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0701 PM     HAIL             4 N KRESS               34.42N 101.75W
10/12/2012  E1.75 INCH       SWISHER            TX   BROADCAST MEDIA

0701 PM     TSTM WND GST     4 N KRESS               34.42N 101.75W
10/12/2012  E70 MPH          SWISHER            TX   BROADCAST MEDIA

&&

EVENT NUMBER LUB1200398
EVENT NUMBER LUB1200399

MCONDER

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.

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), 00:00Z

0.1 hours before the tornado, 142 km from the path. October 13, 2012.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

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: 1574 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -33 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 207 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 603 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 56 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 219 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 284 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 11.7
0-3 km lapse rate: 5.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), 12:00Z

11.9 hours after it, 142 km from the path. October 13, 2012.

Skew-T log-p

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.

Hodograph

Mixed-layer CAPE: 1191 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -4 J/kg
Surface CAPE: 1340 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 559 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 54 kt
0-1 km bulk shear: 36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 176 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 291 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 1.3
Supercell composite: 5.1
0-3 km lapse rate: 5.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Plainview (PVW), 25 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)	Temp (°F)	Dew point (°F)	Wind	Gust (kt)	Pressure (mb)	Weather
00:00 UTC

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

The radar

The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 33 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:05 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.

This ground now

The live radar over the track Every 2012 tornado in Texas Every tornado in Texas since 1950 Warnings in force in Texas now The forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of October 12, 2012

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

Date	Time	Rating	Where	Path (mi)	Width (yd)	Deaths	Injuries	Damage
October 12	5:08 PM MDT	EF0	Santa Fe, NM	5.8	75			$50,000
October 12	7:14 PM CDT	EF0	Hale, TX	0.1	20

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.