Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2015

EF1 tornado, Vernon to Lockett, Texas, May 8, 2015

From Vernon to Lockett, this EF1 tornado ran 3.5 miles across Wilbarger County on May 8, 2015, touching down at 4:28 PM CDT and reaching 100 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 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.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
May 8, 2015
Touchdown
4:28 PM CDT (21:28 UTC)
Lifted
4:36 PM CDT (21:36 UTC)
On the ground
8 minutes
Path length
3.5 miles (5.6 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Wilbarger County
Touchdown point
34.121, -99.419
Lift-off point
34.085, -99.376
Record number
1505081528-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Another round of storms developed across the Texas panhandle and developed into a line as it moved eastward across western north Texas.

A storm chaser and a law enforcement officer reported a brief tornado estimated to be 10 miles west-northwest of Vernon. No damage was reported.

Law enforcement and a storm chaser reported a tornado that moved from approximately 4 miles northwest of Lockett to near Lockett. Trees were damaged and the roof was damage from a metal building (DI 21; DOD 3).

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

The warnings

33 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:55 UTC, 33 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:51 UTC and running to 23:48 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
10:00 UTC15:00 UTCDense Fog AdvisoryOUN
17:51 UTC23:48 UTCTornado WatchOUN
20:55 UTC21:45 UTCTornado WarningOUN
21:28 UTC22:15 UTCTornado WarningOUN
21:52 UTC22:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningOUN
22:05 UTC22:45 UTCTornado WarningOUN

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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:40 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.

Norman, OK (KOUN), 12:00Z

9.5 hours before the tornado, 221 km from the path. May 8, 2015.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 2015-05-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 171 joules per kilogram, CIN -108, lifted condensation level 656 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, Norman, OK at 12:00Z on 2015-05-08The 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 180 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 29 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
171 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-108 J/kg
Surface CAPE
37 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
656 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
180 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
119 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.5
0-3 km lapse rate
3.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Norman, OK (KOUN), 00:00Z

2.5 hours after it, 221 km from the path. May 9, 2015.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Norman, OK at 00:00Z on 2015-05-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 20 joules per kilogram, CIN -110, lifted condensation level 577 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 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, Norman, OK at 00:00Z on 2015-05-09The 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 -54 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 36 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
20 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-110 J/kg
Surface CAPE
69 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
577 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
3 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-54 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
372 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.9
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Altus AFB radar (KFDR), 48 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:25 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
21:22 UTCTSTM WND GST 669 S ChillicotheHardeman, TX
21:23 UTCTORNADO9 Wnw VernonWilbarger, TXSPOTTER WAS LOCATED 6 WNW OF VERNON REPORTING BRIEF TORNADO 4 MILES TO THEIR WEST. MULTIPLE BRIEF FUNNELS ALSO REPORTED. REPORT CONFIRMED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT.
21:28 UTCTORNADOLockettWilbarger, TXTORNADO DEVELOPED ABOUT 4 MILES NORTHWEST OF LOCKETT AND MOVED TO NEAR LOCKETT PER LAW ENFORECEMENT AND STORM CHASER REPORTS. TREES WERE DAMAGED AND A METAL BUILDING SUFFERED ROOF DAMAGE NEAR LOCKETT.
21:28 UTCTORNADOLockettWilbarger, TXTORNADO DEVELOPED ABOUT 4 MILES NORTHWEST OF LOCKETT AROUND 428 PM AND MOVED TO NEAR LOCKETT PER LAW ENFORECEMENT AND STORM CHASER REPORTS AROUND 436 PM. TREES WERE DAMAGED AND A METAL BUILDING SUFFERED ROOF DAMAGE NEAR
22:20 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 W ElectraWichita, TXSPOTTER REPORTS WIND DAMAGE TO SILO AND TREES BETWEEN HAROLD AND ELECTRA... WINDS ESTIMATED 80 TO 90 MPH.
22:21 UTCTORNADO3 Nne HaynesvilleWichita, TXSTORM CHASER PROVIDED PHOTOGRAPH. MINOR DAMAGE TO A METAL OUTBUILDING ALSO REPORTED.

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

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 8, 2015

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 84:22 PM CDTEF0Wilbarger, TX0.330
May 85:21 PM CDTEF0Wichita, TX0.350
May 85:30 PM CDTEF0Haskell, TX0.235
May 86:04 PM CDTEF0Cotton, OK0.250
May 86:16 PM CDTEF0Cotton, OK0.250
May 86:22 PM CDTEF0Throckmorton, TX0.335
May 86:40 PM CDTEF0Jefferson, OK0.550
May 86:40 PM CDTEF0Throckmorton, TX0.225
May 87:08 PM CDTEF0Jefferson, OK0.250
May 86:12 PM MDTEF0Otero, CO0.850

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.