EF0 tornado, Canadian Hemphill Ar to Glazier, Texas, May 16, 2016

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

May 16, 2016

Touchdown

9:06 PM CDT (02:06 UTC)

Lifted

9:25 PM CDT (02:25 UTC)

On the ground

19 minutes

Path length

9.4 miles (15.2 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Hemphill County

Touchdown point

35.919, -100.303

Lift-off point

35.893, -100.138

Record number

1605162006-01

A surface low pressure system over northeast New Mexico moved southeast during the late afternoon and evening hours. A cold front moved southeast across the panhandles from northwest to southeast behind the low pressure system. Severe thunderstorms developed across northeast New Mexico during the afternoon and then moved southeast across the panhandles. Low level shear helped to create an environment favorable for tornadic supercells in the Texas Panhandle. Tornadoes were well documented by spotters and storm chasers through photos and video, and four caused minor damage.

A brief tornado crossed Highway 60 about 3 miles south of Canadian. Minimal tree damage was found, consistent with EF-0 damage and estimated peak winds of 74 mph. A storm spotter witnessed this tornado.

A narrow tornado track of tree damage was found by the survey team. The tornado was reported by several chasers and spotters. Tree damage was consistent with EF-0 damage and estimated peak wind of 75 mph.

A tornado was witnessed by the Roger Mills County, Oklahoma Fire Department on the Texas side of the state line. The tornado then moved into Oklahoma shortly after developing. Some damage was reported to a wheat field. The tornado was assigned an EF-0 rating.

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

10 minutes of warning. NWS AMA issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:56 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 02:30 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 19:31 UTC and running to 04:13 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:26 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 Amarillo radar (KAMA), 154 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:04 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

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.