EF1 tornado, Balsora, Texas, May 19, 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

May 19, 2015

Touchdown

9:41 PM CDT (02:41 UTC)

Lifted

9:43 PM CDT (02:43 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

1.8 miles (2.9 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$450,000

County

Wise County

Touchdown point

33.182, -97.861

Lift-off point

33.165, -97.885

Record number

1505192041-01

30 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS FWD, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 110 mph.

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

Another cold front stalled across north Texas, leading to favorable conditions for thunderstorms and severe weather. The front, which stalled just south of the Red River, began to move slowly southeast during the night of the 19th and led to numerous severe weather reports across Wise, Jack, and Palo Pinto Counties.

A National Weather Service damage survey crew determined a tornado caused damage over four miles across eastern Jack and far western Wise Counties. The tornado produced extensive tree damage across farm and ranch land, but did produce damage to three homes, and several buildings on one farm.

A National Weather Service damage survey team found evidence of a weak tornado to the south of the city of Runaway Bay. This was the first of two tornadoes in the city. This one produced tree damage on the southwest side of Runaway Bay, before damaging approximately ten roofs on the south side of US 380. The tornado continued southeast, damaging farm buildings to the southeast of Lake Bridgeport.

A National Weather Service damage survey crew found tornado damage consistent with EF-1 damage in the city of Runaway Bay. This was the second of two tornadoes to affect Runaway Bay on the 19th. This tornado began over Lake Bridgeport before moving southwest into the city. Several homes were damaged, with damage ranging from superficial shingle damage to complete roof loss. One home had the second story balcony removed, and the two apartment units were considered a total loss.

A National Weather Service damage survey crew found tornado damage along a two and a half mile path across western Wise County. The tornado began on the west side of Farm to Market Road 920, west of the Balsora community. As the tornado moved eastward, several homes, mobile homes, and farm buildings were damaged or destroyed. The most significant damage was done to a mobile home, where the roof was completely taken off.

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

26 minutes of warning. NWS FWD issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:15 UTC, 26 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 22:56 UTC and running to 04:51 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:50 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 Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 85 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:41 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.

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

35 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.