Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2017

EF0 tornado, Battle, Texas, April 10, 2017

This EF0 tornado ran 0.7 miles across McLennan County on April 10, 2017, touching down at 10:45 PM CDT and reaching 80 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $40,000 of property damage.

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
April 10, 2017
Touchdown
10:45 PM CDT (03:45 UTC)
Lifted
10:47 PM CDT (03:47 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
0.7 miles (1.2 km)
Path width
80 yards (73 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$40,000
County
McLennan County
Touchdown point
31.548, -96.902
Lift-off point
31.543, -96.891
Record number
1704102145-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Thunderstorms developed across North and Central Texas during the afternoon hours on April 10th, and continued on the 11th. Thunderstorms produced a wide array of severe weather, including large hail and heavy rainfall.

Emergency manager surveyed a brief EF-0 tornado near the Battle Lake golf course, near Battle Lake Road. Several sheds were damaged, including one mobile home. A near continuous path of tree damage was also observed along the path of the tornado.

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

The warnings

20 minutes of warning. NWS FWD issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:25 UTC, 20 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:00 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 19:29 UTC and running to 04:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
19:00 UTC12:00 UTCFlash Flood WatchFWD
19:29 UTC04:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchFWD
01:24 UTC02:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWD
02:00 UTC05:00 UTCFlash Flood WarningFWD
02:27 UTC03:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWD
02:58 UTC04:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWD
03:25 UTC04:00 UTCTornado WarningFWD
03:25 UTC05:30 UTCFlood AdvisoryFWD
04:06 UTC12:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchFWD
06:43 UTC09:45 UTCFlood AdvisoryFWD
09:39 UTC12:30 UTCFlood AdvisoryFWD
14:53 UTC17:45 UTCFlood AdvisoryFWD

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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:50 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), 00:00Z

3.8 hours before the tornado, 148 km from the path. April 11, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2017-04-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 143 joules per kilogram, CIN -246, lifted condensation level 1066 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 2017-04-11The 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 60 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 49 knots.193958Sfc1 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
143 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-246 J/kg
Surface CAPE
164 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1066 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
49 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
60 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
190 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
5.4
0-3 km lapse rate
5.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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

8.2 hours after it, 148 km from the path. April 11, 2017.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2017-04-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -84606, lifted condensation level 1888 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 2017-04-11The 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 57 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 39 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-84606 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1888 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
57 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
207 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.7
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Ft Hood radar (KGRK), 103 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:47 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
00:46 UTCTSTM WND DMGCayoteBosque, TX8 INCH DIAMETER TREE LIMBS IN CAYOTE
01:31 UTCHAIL 14 Ssw AquillaHill, TXSPOTTER REPORTING QUARTER SIZE HAIL 4 MI SSW OF AQUILLA
01:41 UTCHAIL 1.755 Wnw China SpringMclennan, TXGOLFBALL SIZE HAIL REPORTED 5 MI WNW OF CHINA SPRING
02:00 UTCHAIL 1LeroyMclennan, TXQUARTER SIZE HAIL REPORTED IN LEROY
03:43 UTCTSTM WND DMGMartMclennan, TXROOF OF UNKNOWN BUILDING ON THE SIDE OF BATTTLE LAKE ROAD
03:50 UTCHAIL 2.5MartMclennan, TXTENNIS BALL HAIL REPORTED IN THE CITY OF MART
04:25 UTCHAIL 1.75ThorntonLimestone, TXGOLFBALL SIZE HAIL IN THORTON, HWY 14 AND FM 1246
04:30 UTCTSTM WND DMGRieselMclennan, TXPOWERLINES BLOCKING THE ROAD AT FM 1860 AND KOEHNE ROAD BETWEEN RIESEL AND MART
04:30 UTCTSTM WND GST 60ThrorntonLimestone, TXREPORTS OF 60+ MPH WINDS IN THORNTON, HWY 14 AND FM 1246

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2017 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 10, 2017

3 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 107:10 PM CDTEF1Smith, TX0.5100
April 107:35 PM CDTEF1Smith, TX1.8250$25,000
April 108:36 PM EDTEF1Ionia, MI5.3220$210,000

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.