EF1 tornado, Omen to Overton, Texas, April 10, 2017

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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF1

Date

April 10, 2017

Touchdown

7:35 PM CDT (00:35 UTC)

Lifted

7:42 PM CDT (00:42 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

1.8 miles (2.9 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$25,000

Counties

Smith and Rusk counties

Touchdown point

32.278, -95.000

Lift-off point

32.276, -94.969

Record number

1704101835-01

A cold front stalled northwest of the Four-State Region over Western Arkansas, Southeast Oklahoma, and North Texas, while a moist and unstable air mass developed ahead of the front during the afternoon and evening of April 10th. Cooling aloft associated with the approach of an upper level trough led to lowering freezing and -20C levels throughout the evening. Several severe thunderstorms with large hail (half-dollar to golfball size) and occasional damaging winds developed later during the evening, mainly over Northeast Texas. Localized flash flooding was also observed as well. The best instability shifted to the southwest of the region overnight, resulting in the thunderstorms weakening late.

An EF-1 tornado with maximum estimated winds between 86-90 mph touched down a few miles northwest of the Arp community along County Road 230. This short-lived tornado moved southeast along Farm To Market Road 2103 before lifting. Several trees were uprooted along a narrow path.

An EF-0 tornado with maximum estimated winds around 75 mph touched down along County Road 223 just west of the Overton city limits near the Smith/Rusk county line, where it uprooted a few small trees. This tornado moved into the city of Overton in Rusk County, where it intensified to an EF-1 with maximum estimated winds of 95-105 mph.

This is a continuation of the EF-0 tornado from eastern Smith County that touched down just west of the Overton city limits. This tornado intensified to an EF-1 as it crossed into the Overton community in Western Rusk County, with maximum estimated winds between 95-105 mph. Several trees were snapped and uprooted with some minor shingle damage occurring to one home. The most concentrated damage was found near the Overton School complex and in the adjacent cemetery along Farm to Market Road 850 before lifting along County Road 128.

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

14 minutes of warning. NWS SHV issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:21 UTC, 14 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 00:45 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 19:26 UTC and running to 04:00 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. The outlook in force was issued at 19:59 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.

Henderson (RFI), 20 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 109 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:37 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 2017 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

3 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.