EF2 tornado, Alamo Hgts to Wetmore, Texas, February 19, 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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

February 19, 2017

Touchdown

10:36 PM CST (04:36 UTC)

Lifted

10:43 PM CST (04:43 UTC)

On the ground

7 minutes

Path length

4.6 miles (7.5 km)

Path width

600 yards (549 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Bexar County

Touchdown point

29.491, -98.499

Lift-off point

29.515, -98.427

Record number

1702192236-01

113 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS EWX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 120 mph.

• Small portion of roof peeled back. Windows blown out.
• Collapsed metal high tension power line structure. Used a lower bound (wood poles) due to information from power companies.
• Straight-line wind damage.
• Trampoline tossed and tree snapped. Ending point.

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

An upper level trough pushed a cold front into a warm, moist airmass over South Central Texas. Thunderstorms developed ahead of the front and some produced tornadoes and damaging wind gusts.

A tornado formed near San Pedro Ave. at the San Pedro Golf course and moved northeastward while strengthening to an EF1 near Jackson-Keller Rd. As it got to Linda Dr. it strengthened and the damage path was its widest at near 600 yards. The tornado took a bit of a right turn and moved due east along Linda Dr. and Sharon Dr. where it had peak winds of near 120 mph making it an EF2 tornado. A few homes in this area had their roofs completely removed (DI FR12, DOD 6). The tornado crossed Highway 281 near the Alamo Quarry Market shopping center as an EF1 and continued on an east-northeast track through Alamo Heights. Along its path numerous homes had roof damage (DI FR12, DOD 4) and major tree damage (DI TH, DOD 4) with large oak trees snapped and uprooted. Several apartment buildings had roof damage (DI ACT, DOD 2). The rest of the track was mainly EF0 damage with a few smaller pockets of EF1 damage. The tornado crossed near the Nacogdoches/New Braunfels Ave. intersection, moved east-northeast, crossing Harry Wurzbach Rd. and finally dissipating near the I-410/Salado Creek area. According to City of San Antonio assessment, 2 homes were destroyed, 77 had major damage, 55 had minor damage, and 120 homes were affected. There is not an estimate on monetary repairs.

A tornado formed just northeast of Thousand Oaks Dr. along Scarsdale Dr. The tornado moved to the northeast through residential neighborhoods between Nacogdoches Rd. and Stahl Rd. The tornado produced widespread EF0 damage and pockets of EF1 damage to homes and trees. Some single family homes lost sections of their roofs (DI FR12, DOD 4). There was also significant damage to large utility structures (DI ETL, DOD 4). This damage might have rated higher (DOD 6), but the utility company told us they collapse at much lower wind speeds. The tornado lifted near the intersection of Judson Rd. and Stahl Rd. According to the City of San Antonio assessment, 22 homes had major damage, 12 had minor damage, and 81 homes were affected. There is no estimate of monetary loss.

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 severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 02:46 UTC and running to 06:07 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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:45 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.

San Antonio (SAT), 3 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 48 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 04:34 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

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.