Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2016

EF0 tornado, Andice, Texas, March 8, 2016

This EF0 tornado ran 1.5 miles across Williamson County on March 8, 2016, touching down at 9:17 AM CST and reaching 50 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 mphthis tornado

    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 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
EF0
Date
March 8, 2016
Touchdown
9:17 AM CST (15:17 UTC)
Lifted
9:19 AM CST (15:19 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
1.5 miles (2.4 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Williamson County
Touchdown point
30.752, -97.831
Lift-off point
30.774, -97.828
Record number
1603080917-01

The damage survey

3 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS EWX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 80 mph.

  • Porch was ripped off the back of residence. Debris in many directions.

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

A deep upper level low and a surface frontal boundary combined to produce severe thunderstorms and locally heavy rain. The thunderstorms produced large hail and damaging winds. Flash flooding was reported in Austin.

A storm survey by the Williamson County emergency manager and the National Weather Service determined that a small EF0 tornado caused damage a few miles southeast of Andice. As a cluster of storms approached the area, the small tornado formed and caused minor damage to trees, outbuildings, and a few residences near the intersection of County Road 248 and Ranch Road 2338. The small tornado appears to have formed about one mile south of 2338 and then crossed CR248 near the CR248 and RR2338 intersection. The tornado then dissipated as it crossed and moved north of RR2338. Maximum winds in the tornado were estimated at 80 mph.

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

The warnings

1 minute of warning. NWS EWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 15:16 UTC, 1 minute before the tornado touched down, in force until 15:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 13:25 UTC and running to 17:01 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
13:25 UTC17:01 UTCTornado WatchEWX
15:16 UTC15:45 UTCTornado WarningEWX

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 15:11 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.

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 12:00Z

3.3 hours before the tornado, 236 km from the path. March 8, 2016.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2016-03-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1032 joules per kilogram, CIN -11, lifted condensation level 548 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, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2016-03-08The 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 291 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 48 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
1032 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-11 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1183 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
548 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
48 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
291 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
219 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.5
Supercell composite
6.5
0-3 km lapse rate
5.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 00:00Z

8.7 hours after it, 236 km from the path. March 9, 2016.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2016-03-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 593 joules per kilogram, CIN -98, lifted condensation level 803 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, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2016-03-09The 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 -24 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 50 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
593 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-98 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1220 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
803 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
50 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-24 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-81 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
-0.1
Supercell composite
-0.8
0-3 km lapse rate
6.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Georgetown (Awos) (GTU), 17 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
13:48 UTC6862.6140° 7 kt1006.1-RA
14:46 UTC6862.6120° 9 kt151006.4RA
15:53 UTC66.262.6170° 13 kt281006.1+RA
16:48 UTC71.664.4180° 15 kt1006.1

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

The radar

The Ft Hood radar (KGRK), 43 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 15:14 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
13:40 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Ese TowBurnet, TXDAMAGE TO A PRIVATE MARINA ON LAKE BUCHANAN
13:40 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Se TowLlano, TXLARGE TREE BRANCHES AND DAMAGE TO CARPORT REPORTED ON LAKESHORE LOOP NEAR LAKE BUCHANAN
13:45 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Se TowLlano, TXLARGE TREE BRANCHES AND DAMAGE TO CARPORT REPORTED ON LAKESHORE LOOP NEAR LAKE BUCHANAN
15:10 UTCHAIL 0.25Liberty HillWilliamson, TX
15:17 UTCTORNADO2 Sse AndiceWilliamson, TXNWS AND EMERGENCY MANAGER STORM SURVEY DETERMINED THAT A WEAK EF0 TORNADO FORMED A FEW MILES SOUTHEAST OF ANDICE. DAMAGE WAS REPORTED TO A FEW RESIDENCES... TREES... AND OUTBUILDINGS. MAX WINDS ARE ESTIMATED TO BE 80 MPH
15:20 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Ese AndiceWilliamson, TX
15:29 UTCHAIL 0.7AndiceWilliamson, TX

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2016 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of March 8, 2016

10 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 86:30 AM CSTEF0Erath, TX0.3100$130,000
March 86:55 AM CSTEF1Erath, TX2.2100$500,000
March 87:21 AM CSTEF0Hood, TX0.4160$50,000
March 87:36 AM CSTEF0Hood, TX0.040$4,000
March 88:03 AM CSTEF0Tarrant, TX1.970$330,000
March 88:17 AM CSTEF0Lampasas, TX0.2100$60,000
March 88:53 AM CSTEF1Denton, TX0.140$90,000
March 812:23 PM CSTEF1Navarro, TX1.9150$70,000
March 812:37 PM CSTEF0Henderson, TX5.380$200,000
March 87:10 PM CSTEF1Mason, TX1.7185

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.