Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2014

EF1 tornado, Jasper Piney Wood Ar to Keithton, Texas, December 27, 2014

From Jasper Piney Wood Ar to Keithton, this EF1 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Jasper County on December 27, 2014, touching down at 2:35 PM CST and reaching 150 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $100,000 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
December 27, 2014
Touchdown
2:35 PM CST (20:35 UTC)
Lifted
2:39 PM CST (20:39 UTC)
On the ground
4 minutes
Path length
2.0 miles (3.2 km)
Path width
150 yards (137 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$100,000
County
Jasper County
Touchdown point
30.864, -93.979
Lift-off point
30.884, -93.955
Record number
1412271435-01

The damage survey

24 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LCH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 107 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

A cluster of thunderstorms moved across the East Texas Lakes area along a triple point. This cluster of storms produced tornadoes near Spurger and near Jasper.

The tornado began just south of the intersection of County Road 301/Brewster���s Road and Highway 96 where small tree branches and an awning were broken. The path of the weak tornado continued along the path of Brewster���s Road breaking small branches before peeking out near the homes at the end of the road. The tornado reached peak intensity as it passed one home destroying a portion of the home, mainly the garage. It also damaged or destroyed 3 outbuildings near the home and downed or snapped many large pine and oak trees. The tornado continued east-northeast across a field and destroyed another carport and removed portion of an outbuilding`s roof. Four vehicles were damaged or destroyed between the two homes. The tornado then dissipated in the forest.

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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:35 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

8.6 hours before the tornado, 111 km from the path. December 27, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 2014-12-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 538 joules per kilogram, CIN -37, lifted condensation level 607 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 2014-12-27The 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 228 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 49 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
538 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-37 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
607 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
228 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
274 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.6
0-3 km lapse rate
3.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

3.4 hours after it, 111 km from the path. December 28, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 2014-12-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1363 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 452 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 2014-12-28The 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 141 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 56 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
1363 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1038 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
452 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
56 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
141 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
149 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.1
Supercell composite
5.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Jasper County-Bell Field Airport (JAS), 7 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
18:35 UTC67.8266.2150° 3 kt1015.9BR
18:55 UTC6866.20° 0 kt1015.6BR
19:15 UTC6866.2170° 4 kt1015.6RA
19:35 UTC67.4665.84180° 4 kt1015.6-RA
19:55 UTC67.4666160° 5 kt1014.9-DZ
20:15 UTC67.6466.2170° 4 kt1015.2+RA
20:35 UTC68.1866.56300° 14 kt1014.6+RA
20:55 UTC6765.48300° 9 kt1015.6-RA
21:15 UTC6563330° 8 kt1015.9+RA
21:35 UTC63.561.7330° 10 kt151016.3
21:55 UTC61.1659.72320° 9 kt1016.9+RA
22:15 UTC5856.66310° 12 kt171017.6-RA

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

The radar

The Ft Polk radar (KPOE), 99 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:37 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 UTCTORNADO 14 W SpurgerTyler, TXTORNADO DAMAGE 4 HOMES AND SEVERAL OUT BUILDINGS. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND IN PNSLCH.
20:30 UTCTORNADO4 S JasperJasper, TXTHE JASPER CO POLICE DEPT REPORTED DAMAGE FROM A POSSIBLE TORNADO NEAR HWY 96 AND CO 301. APPX 2 HOMES DAMAGED, MULTIPLE VEHICLES, AND POWER LINES DAMAGED. NO INJURIES REPORTED. TIME EST BY RADAR.
20:35 UTCTORNADO 14 Sse JasperJasper, TXA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STORM SURVEY HAS CONCLUDED THAT THE TORNADO THAT OCCURRED SOUTH OF JASPER WAS AN EF-1 WITH PEAK WINDS AROUND 105 MPH. THE TORNADO BEGAN NEAR HIGHWAY 96 AND TRAVELED ALONG COUNTY ROAD 301. THAT
20:35 UTCTORNADO 14 Ssw JasperJasper, TXA NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE STORM SURVEY HAS CONCLUDED THAT THE TORNADO THAT OCCURRED SOUTH OF JASPER WAS AN EF-1 WITH PEAK WINDS AROUND 105 MPH. THE TORNADO BEGAN NEAR HIGHWAY 96 AND TRAVELED ALONG COUNTY ROAD 301. THAT

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 December 27, 2014

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
December 271:12 PM CSTEF0Liberty, TX0.275$10,000
December 272:00 PM CSTEF1Tyler, TX4.350$15,000

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.