EF1 tornado, Lora, Texas, June 22, 2014

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.

Rating

EF1

Date

June 22, 2014

Touchdown

9:50 PM CDT (02:50 UTC)

Lifted

9:55 PM CDT (02:55 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

1.9 miles (3.0 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Roberts and Hemphill counties

Touchdown point

35.943, -100.558

Lift-off point

35.950, -100.526

Record number

1406222050-01

3 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS AMA, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 90 mph.

• Time estimated: 945 PM - 953 PM Waiting for Damage Survey Results
• A barn was partially un-roofed and numerous trees were damaged.
• A metal and wood constructed barn was destroyed. With all roof panels removed and most walls collapsed.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

A favorable northwest flow aloft pattern and abundant moisture resulted in a round of severe convection for the 22nd and into the early morning hours of the 23rd. A discrete supercell developed over the Oklahoma Panhandle during the early afternoon hours of the 22nd. This supercell would go on to produce several brief tornadoes and hail up to the size of tennis balls while slowly moving southward across the far eastern Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles. The outflow from this tornadic supercell interacted with discrete storms developing along a southward moving cold front over western Kansas, and caused the storms to transition into a linear structure. This line would enter the central Oklahoma Panhandle and north central Texas Panhandle around 8 PM CST. Both the line of thunderstorms and the tornadic supercell moved southward across the Texas Panhandle before the tornadic supercell joined with line around 11 PM CST. The combined line moved southward and exited the southern Texas Panhandle around 1 AM CST on the 23rd.

A slow moving supercell thunderstorm moved southward across the eastern Texas Panhandle during the evening hours of the 22nd. This supercell produced multiple brief tornadoes over the course of several hours. This tornado began in extreme eastern Roberts County where it produced light damage at a ranch house. A barn was partially un-roofed and numerous trees were damaged. The tornado then drifted east across the Hemphill County line, generally along and just south of Red Deer Road. It damaged a second homestead approximately 7 miles west-northwest of Canadian. A metal and wood constructed barn was destroyed, with all roof panels removed and most walls collapsed. Wind estimated of 85 to 90 mph were based on damage to this particular structure. Additional tree damage also occurred at this location. After this tornado dissipated, the parent supercell continued moving south across the eastern Texas Panhandle.

A slow moving supercell thunderstorm moved southward across the eastern Texas Panhandle during the evening hours of the 22nd. This supercell produced multiple brief tornadoes over the course of several hours. This tornado began in extreme eastern Roberts County where it produced light damage at a ranch house. A barn was partially un-roofed and numerous trees were damaged. The tornado then drifted east across the Hemphill County line, generally along and just south of Red Deer Road. It damaged a second homestead approximately 7 miles west-northwest of Canadian. A metal and wood constructed barn was destroyed, with all roof panels removed and most walls collapsed. Wind estimated of 85 to 90 mph were based on damage to this particular structure. Additional tree damage also occurred at this location. After this tornado dissipated, the parent supercell continued moving south across the eastern Texas Panhandle.

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

36 minutes of warning. NWS AMA issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:14 UTC, 36 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:00 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:51 UTC and running to 02:54 UTC.

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 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 00:43 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 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.

Canadian (HHF), 14 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 132 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:49 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.

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

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

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

6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.