Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2014

EF0 tornado, Ozona Muni Arpt, Texas, May 24, 2014

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Crockett County on May 24, 2014, touching down at 5:21 PM CDT and reaching 50 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.

  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
May 24, 2014
Touchdown
5:21 PM CDT (22:21 UTC)
Lifted
5:23 PM CDT (22:23 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Crockett County
Touchdown point
30.925, -101.835
Lift-off point
30.926, -101.834
Record number
1405241621-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A slow moving large upper level low pressure center approached West Central Texas through the period. Several rounds of showers and thunderstorms developed across the area and resulted in damaging winds, hail, and flash flooding.

A resident in close proximity saw the tornado as it briefly touched down on top of a nearby ridge.

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

The warnings

14 minutes of warning. NWS SJT issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:07 UTC, 14 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:43 UTC and running to 02:52 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
18:43 UTC02:52 UTCTornado WatchSJT
21:55 UTC22:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJT
22:07 UTC22:30 UTCTornado WarningSJT
22:30 UTC23:00 UTCTornado WarningSJT
23:34 UTC00:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJT
00:12 UTC01:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJT
00:45 UTC03:30 UTCFlash Flood WarningSJT
01:17 UTC01:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJT
01:53 UTC02:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSJT
02:39 UTC05:30 UTCFlash Flood WarningSJT
02:52 UTC09:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchSJT
04:53 UTC07:54 UTCFlash Flood WatchSJT

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 19:51 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.

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), 12:00Z

10.4 hours before the tornado, 119 km from the path. May 24, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 2014-05-24Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1629 joules per kilogram, CIN -83, lifted condensation level 705 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, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 2014-05-24The 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 33 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 26 knots.193958Sfc1 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
1629 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-83 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1934 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
705 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
23 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
33 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
87 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
0.6
0-3 km lapse rate
5.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), 00:00Z

1.6 hours after it, 119 km from the path. May 25, 2014.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Midland Regional, TX at 00:00Z on 2014-05-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 953 joules per kilogram, CIN -124, lifted condensation level 848 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, Midland Regional, TX at 00:00Z on 2014-05-25The 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 245 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 60 knots.193958Sfc1 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
953 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-124 J/kg
Surface CAPE
862 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
848 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
60 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
245 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
200 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
0.7
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 118 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:22 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
21:35 UTCHAIL 12 N BakersfieldPecos, TX
22:21 UTCTORNADO41 Wnw OzonaCrockett, TXBRIEF TOUCHDOWN ON TOP OF THE RIDGE JUST NORTH OF HWY 190.
22:32 UTCTORNADO38 Wsw BarnhartCrockett, TXBRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN IN OPEN FIELD.
22:45 UTCHAIL 114 Se BakersfieldPecos, TXSPOTTER REPORTED PEA TO QUARTER SIZE HAIL
23:48 UTCHAIL 1IraanPecos, TXIRAAN FIRE DEPT REPORTED QUARTER SIZE HAIL
00:30 UTCHAIL 2.75IraanPecos, TXIRAAN FIRE DEPT REPORTED BASEBALL HAIL AND 60 MPH GUST
00:56 UTCHAIL 1.757 Wsw SheffieldTerrell, TXSPOTTER REPORTS GOLFBALL HAIL NEAR SHEFFIELD
01:19 UTCHAIL 1.5SheffieldPecos, TXSPOTTER REPORTS PING PONG BALL SIZE HAIL IN SHEFFIELD
01:21 UTCHAIL 11 S MccameyUpton, TX

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 May 24, 2014

1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 242:36 PM MDTEF0Big Horn, WY0.820

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.