Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2014

EF1 tornado, Lovelady, Texas, April 13, 2014

This EF1 tornado ran 0.8 miles across Houston County on April 13, 2014, touching down at 4:45 PM CDT and reaching 20 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 1, and did $120,000 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 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. EF186 to 110 mphthis tornado

    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
EF1
Date
April 13, 2014
Touchdown
4:45 PM CDT (21:45 UTC)
Lifted
4:47 PM CDT (21:47 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
0.8 miles (1.3 km)
Path width
20 yards (18 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
1
Property damage
$120,000
County
Houston County
Touchdown point
31.125, -95.448
Lift-off point
31.137, -95.448
Record number
1404131545-01

The damage survey

5 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS HGX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 105 mph.

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

An afternoon EF1 tornado struck the town of Lovelady in Houston County.

A tornado touched down in Lovelady near a mobile home area then tracked for just under a mile before lifting near Lovelady High School. The worst damage occurred to mobile homes near the start of the track. Two large trees were uprooted and fell onto one mobile home which sustained severe damage to the central part of the structure. This mobile home was moved off its foundation but remained upright. The resident was at home but suffered only minor injuries as she was not in the part of the home that was most severely damaged. Another single wide trailer adjacent to the first damaged mobile home was rolled off its foundation. A third trailer about 50 yards toward the north northeast had its roof peeled off. This damage was rated EF1. Minor damaged occurred at Lovelady High School where some ceiling panels were lifted off near an the entrance area and numerous large limbs were stripped off trees. This damage was rated EF0.

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.

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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:59 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.

Shreveport, LA (KBAD), 12:00Z

9.8 hours before the tornado, 220 km from the path. April 13, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Shreveport, LA at 12:00Z on 2014-04-13Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 8 joules per kilogram, CIN -436, lifted condensation level 552 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, Shreveport, LA at 12:00Z on 2014-04-13The 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 218 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 31 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
8 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-436 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
552 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
218 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
205 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Shreveport, LA (KBAD), 00:00Z

2.2 hours after it, 220 km from the path. April 14, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Shreveport, LA at 00:00Z on 2014-04-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 244 joules per kilogram, CIN -117, lifted condensation level 826 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, Shreveport, LA at 00:00Z on 2014-04-14The 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 544 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 57 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
244 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-117 J/kg
Surface CAPE
354 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
826 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
57 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
544 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
713 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.4
Supercell composite
5.2
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Crocket (DKR), 20 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
19:55 UTC75.273.4160° 8 kt141009.8VCTS BR
20:15 UTC73.471.6150° 7 kt141009.8VCTS -DZ
20:35 UTC73.471.6160° 12 kt161009.1-TSRA
20:55 UTC73.471.6160° 13 kt181008.8-TSDZ
21:35 UTC73.471.6170° 10 kt1009.1BR
21:55 UTC73.471.6150° 9 kt151008.1
22:15 UTC73.471.6150° 12 kt171007.5
22:35 UTC73.469.8150° 14 kt211006.4
22:55 UTC73.469.8150° 10 kt231005.4
23:15 UTC73.469.8150° 10 kt1006.4
23:35 UTC73.469.8150° 6 kt1006.4

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

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 188 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:45 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
20:00 UTCTORNADOLoveladyHouston, TX*** 1 INJ *** A TORNADO DESTROYED THREE MOBILE HOMES AND UPROOTED TREES. A TOTAL OF EIGHT STRUCTURES WERE DAMAGED WITH MINOR DAMAGE TO LOVELADY HIGH SCHOOL. ONE INJURY CAUSED BY A TREE FALLING ONTO A MOBILE HOME.
21:45 UTCTORNADOLoveladyHouston, TX*** 1 INJ *** A TORNADO DESTROYED THREE MOBILE HOMES AND UPROOTED TREES. A TOTAL OF EIGHT STRUCTURES WERE DAMAGED WITH MINOR DAMAGE TO LOVELADY HIGH SCHOOL. ONE INJURY CAUSED BY A TREE FALLING ONTO A MOBILE HOME.
22:00 UTCTORNADOLoveladyHouston, TX*** 1 INJ *** A TORNADO DESTROYED THREE MOBILE HOMES AND UPROOTED TREES. A TOTAL OF EIGHT STRUCTURES WERE DAMAGED WITH MINOR DAMAGE TO LOVELADY HIGH SCHOOL. ONE INJURY CAUSED BY A TREE FALLING ONTO A MOBILE HOME.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2014 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 13, 2014

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 133:46 PM CDTEF0Camp, TX0.325$500,000
April 135:56 PM CDTEF0Johnson, IA1.325
April 135:58 PM CDTEF0Stephens, OK0.450
April 136:05 PM CDTEF0Stephens, OK0.340
April 138:45 PM CDTEF1Franklin, AR5.4450$200,000

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.