EF1 tornado, Mt Union to Belgrade, Texas, April 24, 2015

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

April 24, 2015

Touchdown

11:58 AM CDT (16:58 UTC)

Lifted

12:18 PM CDT (17:18 UTC)

On the ground

20 minutes

Path length

13.3 miles (21.4 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$75,000

Counties

Jasper and Newton counties

Touchdown point

30.665, -94.011

Lift-off point

30.611, -93.797

Record number

1504241058-01

2 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 104 mph.

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

A large upper level trough stalled over the southwest states while multiple short waves rotated around the larger trough over a few days. This produced several rounds of severe weather with tornadoes, hail, and high winds reported. The first round entered the region by late morning on the 24th as a long lived super cell tracked from Tyler County into Louisiana and then into the gulf. The second round of severe weather produced one report of wind damage while the 3rd and 4th rounds produced widespread wind damage, a tornado, and copious amounts of hail.

An EF1 tornado originated near the Neches River west of Kirbyville and moved east to southeast crossing Highway 82 west of Kirbyville near the airport. The tornado continued into Newton County between FM 1013 and South Saint Aubin Road. Numerous trees were uprooted or snapped along the path damaging a few homes from debris hitting them. Some outbuildings were also damaged. The average width was 50 yards and the path was 8.27 miles long in Jasper County. The total length of the path was 13.3 miles.

This tornado formed near the Neches River west of Kirbyville in Jasper County and moved east to southeast. The tornado entered Newton County between FM 1013 and South Saint Aubin Road as it passed north of Call. Numerous trees were uprooted or snapped along the path damaging a few homes from debris hitting them. Some outbuildings were also damaged. The average width was 50 yards and the path was 5 miles long in Newton County. The total length of the path was 13.3 miles.

An EF1 tornado began Southeast of Call and moved across mostly forest. The tornado snapped or uprooted many trees along its path before crossing the Sabine River and moving into Beauregard Parish west of Bancroft. The tornado crossed the Sabine River near the east end of Magnum Road. The tornado path in Newton county was 3.94 miles long and 50 yards wide.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:32 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.

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 87 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 16:58 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 2015 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

20 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.