EF2 tornado, Floresville to Labatt, Texas, October 30, 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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

October 30, 2015

Touchdown

6:02 AM CDT (11:02 UTC)

Lifted

6:11 AM CDT (11:11 UTC)

On the ground

9 minutes

Path length

5.3 miles (8.5 km)

Path width

440 yards (402 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$1.5 million

County

Wilson County

Touchdown point

29.127, -98.155

Lift-off point

29.203, -98.150

Record number

1510300502-01

A warm front combined with an upper level trough and deep moisture produced heavy rainfall and severe thunderstorms across much of South Central Texas on October 30th and 31st. Damage surveys confirmed four tornadoes. Along with the severe weather, excessive rainfall resulted in widespread flash flooding along the Interstate 35 corridor Friday morning. Rainfall rates on the order of 5-7 inches per hour fell from San Marcos up through South Austin. Historic rainfall totals fell at the Austin Airport where over 1 foot of rain fell within a few hours time. 12.49 inches of rain for Oct 30 was the most ever in one day for Austin. Other daily rainfall totals exceeded 15 inches. Record flooding occurred in southern Travis County and portions of Hays County. River and creek flooding was extensive across Hays, Travis, Bastrop, Caldwell, and Comal Counties. Many areas, especially in San Marcos, compared this flooding to the record flooding of Oct 1998. Estimates of 2000 homes were flooded in or near this I-35 corridor, many of them destroyed or sustained Major damage. Estimates of insured losses were not available as of this writing, but the counties experienced monetary losses in the tens of millions.

A tornado touched down near Hickory Circle about 0.5 miles south of Floresville. The tornado produced tree and minor roof damage across several city streets as it moved north. The damage increased in coverage and intensity as it approached Hwy 181. Just east of the intersection of Hwys 181 and 97, substantial roof damage was observed to a few homes as well as businesses along Hwy 181. This included several campers and recreational vehicles that were destroyed. One 5th wheel camper was thrown on top of a local hotel. One large billboard metal sign and structure was destroyed along with multiple power poles. The damage peaked at Floresville high school. A large two story classroom building on campus had the upper story wall collapse inward which appears to have caused a partial roof collapse of the building. The other side of the building had its wall blown out toward Hwy 97. Winds were estimated to be 120 mph. Other minor window damage and impact damage was observed at the school. The tornado weakened as it continued north of the high |school and west of Hwy 97, producing minor roof, shingle, and tree damage. City damage is estimated at 1.5 million dollars, this does not include insured losses and damage to the High School.

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

4 minutes of warning. NWS EWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 10:58 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 11:10 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 05:27 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 Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 61 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 11:01 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

6 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.