EF3 tornado, Big Spring to Morita, Texas, May 22, 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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

May 22, 2016

Touchdown

6:13 PM CDT (23:13 UTC)

Lifted

7:00 PM CDT (00:00 UTC)

On the ground

47 minutes

Path length

4.0 miles (6.5 km)

Path width

500 yards (457 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$75,000

County

Howard County

Touchdown point

32.250, -101.641

Lift-off point

32.209, -101.592

Record number

1605221713-01

43 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MAF, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 152 mph.

• car moved west several feet
• Reinforced roofing. Lag bolts on foundation.
• Car thrown 100 yards from house.
• 640 type pump jack overturned - wind estimated near 160 mph.

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

West Texas was under the backside of a ridge with a dryline across the area which provided lift. Good instability, moisture convergence, and high convective available potential energy was present along and to the east of the dryline. Wind shear was also high over the area, and a low level jet of high winds allowed for storms to continue into the late evening hours. These conditions contributed to thunderstorms that produced large hail, strong wind, flash flooding, and tornadoes across the Permian Basin.

A thunderstorm moved across Howard County and produced a tornado near Big Spring. Eyewitness reports from storm chasers and spotters in the area indicate that the tornado began at 6:13 pm CDT just south of Texas State Highway 176, approximately 10 miles west of Big Spring. The tornado then moved southeastward over open fields, bounded by Natural Dam Lake to its west and Wilkinson Road just to its east. The tornado continued on this southeast track along Salt Lake, eventually crossing Interstate 20 at approximately 6:32 pm CDT. ||South of Interstate 20, the tornado exhibited erratic movement, being described by chasers and spotters as being nearly stationary in a field. Examination of radar imagery showed the primary storm circulation moved slowly southeastward to approximately half a mile northwest of the intersection of Lintner Road and Rockhouse Road by 6:37 pm CDT, before turning eastward. The tornado continued to move east, with the southern periphery of the tornado affecting Home #1. The tornado then began to move northeastward, crossing nearly directly over Home #2 around 6:40 pm CDT. A slight east northeast turn allowed for only the tornado's northern periphery to affect Home #3 along Cauble Road around 6:42 pm CDT.||The tornado moved southward along or near Cauble Road. The tornado continued its erratic behavior, moving southwestward and re-entering the same field as previous around 6:48 pm CDT. The tornado then turned west-northwestward, eventually becoming quasi-stationary just east of the Home #1 between 6:52 pm and 6:54 pm CDT, before moving westward, just north of Home #1. Residents at home #1 described how long the tornado lasted and felt the tornado had impacted them twice. The tornado dissipated approximately 1.5 miles west of Home #1 around 7 pm CDT.||The damage assessment team looked at several different indicators to determine tornado intensity. At Home #2, which likely was the closest and strongest structure to the tornado during the most intense portion of the tornado's life cycle, the entire roof was destroyed and exterior walls on this well-constructed residence were partially collapsed. This damage indicator suggests an EF-3 intensity with wind speeds estimated at 140-160 mph. In the adjacent field east of Home #2, a 640 type pump jack was blown over. The assessment team also looked at tree damage at Home #2. Both softwood and hardwood trees were viewed on the property. Damage to these large trees was indicative of high end EF-2 to low end EF-3 damage.||Home #1 and Home #3 experienced tornado damage indicative of EF-2 damage. In the examples shown, large sections of the roof were removed, but with the walls still standing. At Home #3, there were power poles that were snapped approximately five feet off the ground. Wind speeds at this residence are estimated at 115 to 125 mph. At Home #1, trees were uprooted. Wind speeds are estimated at this location of 105 to 115 mph. The cost of damage from this tornado is a very rough estimate.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:49 UTC and running to 03:00 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 19:36 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 Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 63 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:12 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

25 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.