EF2 tornado, Thedford to Red Spgs, Texas, April 29, 2016

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

April 29, 2016

Touchdown

5:50 PM CDT (22:50 UTC)

Lifted

5:52 PM CDT (22:52 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

1.0 miles (1.6 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$500,000

County

Smith County

Touchdown point

32.499, -95.408

Lift-off point

32.511, -95.401

Record number

1604291650-01

107 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS FWD and NWS SHV, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 127 mph.

• trees fell on boy and girl

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

After a brief respite from severe thunderstorms during the predawn hours on April 29th, additional strong to severe thunderstorms developed from the late morning hours through much of the afternoon and evening on April 29th, and lingered through the early morning hours on April 30th. These storms developed along and south of a warm front which lifted into Southeast Oklahoma and the northern sections of Southwest Arkansas, in a warm, moist, and unstable air mass ahead of a series of upper level disturbances that approached the region from the west. Large hail, damaging winds, and isolated tornadoes were the result over East Texas by early afternoon, with these severe thunderstorms spreading east into Northern Louisiana and Southwest Arkansas during the late afternoon through the overnight hours. A total of 10 tornadoes touched down across East Texas and Southwest Arkansas, which included a 27 mile long track tornado which touched down near Lindale, Texas in Smith County and remained on the ground before lifting northwest of the community of Bettie in Upshur County. Widespread flash flooding also developed over extreme Southeast Oklahoma and Southwest Arkansas from late morning through the afternoon on the 29th in response to showers and thunderstorms containing heavy rainfall which moved repeatedly over the same areas. The flash flooding spread across much of East Texas, extreme Northwest Louisiana, and the remainder of Southwest Arkansas during the afternoon through the overnight hours, flooding/washing away numerous roads with water entering homes as well. The severe weather and flash flooding diminished around daybreak on April 30th as the showers and thunderstorms weakened and pushed east of the area.

An EF-2 tornado with winds estimated between 110-115 mph touched down just west of Highway 69 near the intersection of Mayor Street. As it crossed Highway 69, the tornado strengthened resulting in major damage to the Hibbett Sports and Dollar Tree stores on the east side of Highway 69. The tornado moved northeast resulting in tree and roof damage in subdivisions between Highway 69 and County Road 431. The tornado lifted near the intersection of County Road 431 and Pierce Street.

A long track multi-vortex EF-2 tornado with peak winds estimated between 120-125 mph touched down just east of Lindale near the intersection of County Road 499 and County Road 4100. The tornado traveled northeast resulting in extensive damage to trees along its path. The tornado was strongest between Farm To Market Road 16 and Farm To Market Road 2710, where a cell phone tower, a house, and two mobile homes sustained major damage from estimated EF-2 tornado winds. This tornado remained on the ground as it crossed a heavily wooded area and the Sabine River into Southeast Wood County.

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

16 minutes of warning. NWS SHV issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:34 UTC, 16 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:03 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:51 UTC and running to 02:59 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:45 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.

Tyler/Pounds Field (TYR), 17 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 147 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:49 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 2016 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

15 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.