Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2015
EF0 tornado, Woodward to Gardendale, Texas, May 15, 2015
From Woodward to Gardendale, this EF0 tornado ran 0.8 miles across La Salle County on May 15, 2015, touching down at 6:44 AM CDT and reaching 30 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $50,000 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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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 15, 2015
- Touchdown
- 6:44 AM CDT (11:44 UTC)
- Lifted
- 6:48 AM CDT (11:48 UTC)
- On the ground
- 4 minutes
- Path length
- 0.8 miles (1.3 km)
- Path width
- 30 yards (27 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $50,000
- County
- La Salle County
- Touchdown point
- 28.506, -99.272
- Lift-off point
- 28.499, -99.263
- Record number
- 1505150544-01
The damage survey
8 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS CRP, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 110 mph.
- Unanchored cabin on pier and beam rolled and destroyed.
- Unanchored Cabin on Pier and Beam rolled and destroyed with debris tossed 100 yards.
- Metal roof of large barn was lifted and tossed over 100 yards in open field. Covered car port also collapsed. Many large trees snapped.
- Metal building anchors broke loose and building was tossed 30 yards.
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
Abundant moisture over the region along with a potent upper level disturbance created another severe weather and heavy rain event across South Texas on May 15th. Around daybreak, storms moved into La Salle and McMullen counties where tornadoes produced damage near Woodward. The storms continued to the east and drifted southward with widespread 2 to 3 inches of rain across La Salle, McMullen, Live Oak and Bee counties. Flooding occurred near the cities of Cotulla, Encinal, George West, and Beeville. The storms tapped into even more moisture from the Gulf of Mexico along the coast and expanded into a strong squall line. Two tornadoes occurred in the Coastal Bend at Corpus Christi and at Gregory. The damage was primarily confined to a business on the south side of Corpus Christi. Three injuries occurred near Gregory when a construction trailor flipped at a construction site.
NWS storm survey confirmed an EF-1 tornado caused damage on a private ranch in rural northwest La Salle County. The tornado touched down near Johnson Ranch Road just northeast of Farm to Market Road 468. A rancher was thrown from his barn and landed on top of his trailer. Numerous large trees were snapped at their base and several trees were uprooted. The tornado destroyed a wooden cabin, lofting debris |about 100 yards. Wind speeds were estimated at 85 to 90 mph.
A tornado moved across a ranch and damaged a couple of barns. Three trees were uprooted and many branches were broken.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the tornado touched down, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Corpus Christi, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the tornado touched down at May 15, 6:19 AM CDT, 25 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, May 15, 6:19 AM CDT, 25 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX 619 AM CDT FRI MAY 15 2015 .DISCUSSION...SEE AVIATION SECTION FOR 12Z TAFS. && .AVIATION...MVFR CIGS WERE MAINLY OVER THE BRUSH COUNTRY...NOT AS PREVALENT OVER THE COASTAL PLAINS. WILL KEEP A MENTION OF LOWER CIGS IN TEMPO GROUP FOR COASTAL SITES THIS MORNING ALONG WITH PATCHY FOG FOR ALI/VCT. SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS THE STRONG UPPER TROUGH MOVING THROUGH COAHUILA INTO THE RIO GRANDE PLAINS EARLY THIS MORNING. THE CONVECTION HAS NOT FORMED AS MUCH OVER NORTHEAST MEXICO WHILE ACTIVITY NORTHWEST OF COTULLA REMAINS STRONG. THIS ACTIVITY WILL MOVE EAST INTO THE WESTERN BRUSH COUNTRY DURING THE EARLY MORNING HOURS. EXPECT SCATTERED STORMS TO FORM OVER COASTAL BEND LATER THIS MORNING INTO THE AFTERNOON HOURS. CONVECTION SHOULD DIMINISH OVER THE BRUSH COUNTRY BY EARLY AFTERNOON WHILE DIMINISHING TREND WILL NOT OCCUR UNTIL LATE AFTERNOON FOR COAST. MVFR CIGS WILL MOVE BACK INTO THE REGION EARLY FRIDAY EVENING. EXPECT IFR CIGS WILL OCCUR FOR COASTAL SITES BY MIDNIGHT AND CONTINUE THROUGH THE NIGHT. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 419 AM CDT FRI MAY 15 2015/ SHORT TERM (TODAY THROUGH SATURDAY)...CONVECTION HAS PERSISTED BETWEEN COTULLA AND UVALDE EARLY THIS MORNING BUT ACTIVITY LOOKS LIKE IT IS STARTING TO MOVE. WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWS A STRONG SHORT WAVE TROUGH MOVING INTO THE TEXAS BIG BEND/COAHUILA AHEAD OF THE DEEP CLOSED LOW MOVING INTO THE GREAT BASIN. EXPECT THIS SHORT WAVE TROUGH WILL TRACK NORTHEAST ACROSS THE AREA TODAY AND BE NORTHEAST OF THE AREA BY LATE AFTERNOON. THE BLENDED TOTAL PRECIPITABLE WATER IMAGE EARLIER THIS MORNING SHOWED THE DEEPER MOISTURE AXIS ALONG THE RIO GRANDE WITH VALUES BETWEEN 1.7-1.9 INCHES. MOST OF THE MODELS DEVELOPED EXPANSIVE AREA OF CONVECTION AHEAD OF THIS SHORT WAVE TROUGH OVER NORTHEAST MEXICO EARLY THIS MORNING...WHICH MOST OF THE HI-RES MODELS MOVED THROUGH SOUTH TEXAS TODAY. BUT ACTIVITY OVER NORTHEAST MEXICO ONLY ISOLATED BUT SHOULD SEE CONVECTION INCREASE AS UPPER LEVEL SUPPORT FROM THE WEST ARRIVES OVER BETTER MOISTURE ALONG THE RIO GRANDE. WILL CONTINUE WITH LIKELY POPS OVER THE BRUSH COUNTRY WITH A MENTION OF LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN POSSIBLY THIS MORNING. CONTEMPLATED ISSUING A FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR THE BRUSH COUNTRY AS ANY AMOUNT OF HEAVY RAIN OVER SATURATED GROUNDS WILL BECOME RUNOFF. BUT SPEED OF SHORT WAVE TROUGH MOVING THROUGH THE AREA AND SOMEWHAT LOWER CONFIDENCE DUE TO MESO-SCALE MODELS HANDLING OF CURRENT TREND...WILL HOLD OFF ON WATCH. KEPT SLIGHT CHANCE POPS IN FOR THIS EVENING...BUT EXPECT LIMITED RAIN CHANCES OVERNIGHT INTO SATURDAY MORNING. AFTER SHORT WAVE TROUGH GOES BY...MID LEVEL WARMING OCCURS STRENGTHENING THE CAP. THE UPPER LOW OVER THE GREAT BASIN MOVES NORTHEAST ACROSS THE FOUR CORNERS REGION ON SATURDAY. A WEAK SHORT WAVE TROUGH WILL MOVE OUT OF NORTHERN MEXICO WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF AN UPPER LEVEL JET STREAK NOSING INTO THE BRUSH COUNTRY IN THE AFTERNOON. AIR MASS WILL BE CAPPED FOR MOST OF THE DAY. BUT WITH STRONG HEATING...COULD SEE THE CAP BROKEN WITH ISOLATED TO SCATTERED STRONG CONVECTION DEVELOP BY MID-LATE AFTERNOON OVER THE BRUSH COUNTRY INTO THE INLAND PORTIONS OF THE COASTAL BEND. MARINE...LOW PRESSURE WILL BE DEEPENING OVER THE SOUTHERN AND CENTRAL HIGH PLAINS TONIGHT INTO SATURDAY AS THE UPPER LOW OVER GREAT BASIN APPROACHES. ONSHORE FLOW WILL INCREASE TO MODERATE OVER THE COASTAL WATERS TONIGHT INTO SATURDAY. SCEC CONDITIONS WILL EXIST FOR THIS PERIOD...MAY EVEN APPROACH SCA CONDITIONS AT TIMES. LONG TERM (SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY)...ANY CONVECTION FROM THE DAYTIME HOURS SATURDAY SHOULD QUICKLY DIMINISH BY SATURDAY EVENING AS S/W DISTURBANCE SHIFTS TO THE NE OF THE CWA AND DRIER AIR AT H85 TRIES TO BUILD INTO THE REGION FROM THE SOUTHEAST. ON SUNDAY...ANOTHER MID LEVEL S/W TROUGH CAUGHT IN THE SW FLOW WILL SKIRT NE ACROSS THE REGION WHILE AT THE SAME TIME UPPER LEVEL DIVERGENCE IS PROG TO INCREASE...ESPECIALLY ACROSS NORTHERN AND WESTERN COUNTIES. CLOSER THE SURFACE...A WEAK SURFACE BOUNDARY IS PROG TO SHIFT INTO THE EDWARDS PLATEAU WITH CONVECTION LIKELY IGNITING ALONG THE BOUNDARY TO OUR NORTH...WITH ADDITIONAL CONVECTION DEVELOPING ACROSS THE CWA AS DIURNAL INSTABILITY INCREASES AND DYNAMICS ALOFT IMPROVE. HAVE CHANCE POPS FOR CONVECTION SUNDAY /ESPECIALLY IN THE AFTERNOON/ WITH CONVECTION POSSIBLY PERSISTING INTO THE EVENING HOURS AS LLVL MOISTURE INFLUX INCREASES. SFC BOUNDARY WASHES OUT/SHIFTS FARTHER N ON MONDAY WITH UPPER LEVEL DIVERGENCE SHIFTING N AS WELL. THUS...PRECIP CHANCES ON MONDAY SHOULD REMAIN LOW...THOUGH NOT NIL. MID/UPPER LEVEL RIDGING BUILDS INTO THE REGION FOR MID WEEK WITH LLVL DRIER AIR /JUST ABOVE THE SFC/ BUILDING IN FROM THE WESTERN GULF...AND THUS PRECIP CHANCES WILL BE VERY LOW TO NON MENTIONABLE. DESPITE HIGH SOIL MOISTURE LEVELS...MAX TEMPS HAVE BEEN REACHING GUIDANCE LEVELS PAST COUPLE OF DAYS...AND WITH SOME RIDGING EXPECTED BY MID WEEK I AM EXPECTING MAX TEMPS TO WARM FURTHER /90S NEARLY AREAWIDE/ IN THE EXTENDED PERIOD. MIN TEMPS WILL CONTINUE TO BE ABOVE NORMAL FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR GIVEN NOCTURNAL CLOUD COVER AND HUMID CONDITIONS. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... CORPUS CHRISTI 85 76 87 77 88 / 50 20 20 10 30 VICTORIA 84 73 87 75 88 / 50 20 20 10 40 LAREDO 88 75 94 75 94 / 60 20 20 10 40 ALICE 86 75 90 75 91 / 60 20 30 10 40 ROCKPORT 83 77 86 78 87 / 40 10 20 10 30 COTULLA 85 73 90 73 90 / 60 20 30 10 40 KINGSVILLE 86 76 89 77 89 / 50 20 20 10 40 NAVY CORPUS 83 78 85 78 86 / 40 20 20 10 30 && .CRP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... TX...NONE. GM...NONE. && TT/89...AVIATION
Hazardous weather outlook, May 15, 4:45 AM CDT, 1 hour 59 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...CORRECTED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX 445 AM CDT FRI MAY 15 2015 TXZ229>234-239>247-160945- LA SALLE-MCMULLEN-LIVE OAK-BEE-GOLIAD-VICTORIA-WEBB-DUVAL- JIM WELLS-KLEBERG-NUECES-SAN PATRICIO-ARANSAS-REFUGIO-CALHOUN- 445 AM CDT FRI MAY 15 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH TEXAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TODAY. MOST OF THE STORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BECOME SEVERE...BUT AN ISOLATED SEVERE STORM COULD AFFECT THE BRUSH COUNTRY THIS MORNING WITH LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS. SOME OF THE STORMS COULD PRODUCE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AS WELL...MAINLY OVER THE BRUSH COUNTRY. THIS COULD LEAD TO LOCALIZED FLOODING DUE TO SATURATED SOIL CONDITIONS IN THE AREA. A MODERATE RISK OF RIP CURRENTS WILL EXIST ALONG GULF-FACING BEACHES TODAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY CHANCES FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS SOUTH TEXAS SATURDAY THROUGH THE EARLY PART OF NEXT WEEK. AN ISOLATED STRONG STORM WILL BE POSSIBLE ALONG WITH CONTINUED CHANCES OF LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WITH ANY STORM THAT OCCURS. A MODERATE RISK OF RIP CURRENTS WILL EXIST ALONG GULF-FACING BEACHES ON SATURDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. GMZ230-235-250-255-270-275-160945- BAYS AND WATERWAYS FROM BAFFIN BAY TO PORT ARANSAS- BAYS AND WATERWAYS FROM PORT ARANSAS TO PORT O'CONNOR- COASTAL WATERS FROM BAFFIN BAY TO PORT ARANSAS OUT 20 NM- COASTAL WATERS FROM PORT ARANSAS TO MATAGORDA SHIP CHANNEL OUT 20 NM-WATERS FROM BAFFIN BAY TO PORT ARANSAS FROM 20 TO 60 NM- WATERS FROM PORT ARANSAS TO MATAGORDA SHIP CHANNEL FROM 20 TO 60 NM- 445 AM CDT FRI MAY 15 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE MIDDLE TEXAS COASTAL WATERS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE OVER THE COASTAL WATERS TODAY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE SUNDAY AND MONDAY OVER THE COASTAL WATERS. TMT/RH
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.
Del Rio, TX (KDLF), 00:00Z
11.7 hours before the tornado, 181 km from the path. May 15, 2015.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1284 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -80 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 3286 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1332 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 34 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 9 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 41 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 19 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.1
- Supercell composite
- 1.8
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 6.6 K/km
The surface observations
Cotulla Municipal (COT), 7 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:00 UTC |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Laughlin AFB radar (KDFX), 131 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 11:41 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.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2015 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of May 15, 2015
11 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 15 | 6:29 AM CDT | EF1 | La Salle, TX | 2.3 | 50 | 1 | $100,000 | |
| May 15 | 11:18 AM CDT | EF0 | Duval, TX | 0.0 | 10 | |||
| May 15 | 1:05 PM CDT | EF0 | Nueces, TX | 0.2 | 25 | $25,000 | ||
| May 15 | 1:20 PM CDT | EF0 | San Patricio, TX | 1.4 | 50 | 3 | $100,000 | |
| May 15 | 2:03 PM MDT | EF0 | Adams, CO | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| May 15 | 2:51 PM MDT | EF1 | Adams, CO | 0.1 | 100 | $15,000 | ||
| May 15 | 3:34 PM MDT | EF1 | Goshen, WY | 9.8 | 400 | |||
| May 15 | 6:22 PM CDT | EF0 | Jackson, KS | 0.1 | 20 | |||
| May 15 | 7:41 PM CDT | EF0 | Brown, KS | 0.1 | 20 | |||
| May 15 | 7:34 PM MDT | EF0 | Cherry, NE | 0.1 | 20 | |||
| May 15 | 8:08 PM MDT | EF0 | Sheridan, NE | 0.0 | 10 |
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.