EF2 tornado, Kelleyville to Myrtis, Texas, January 21, 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

January 21, 2017

Touchdown

4:50 PM CST (22:50 UTC)

Lifted

5:28 PM CST (23:28 UTC)

On the ground

38 minutes

Path length

13.4 miles (21.5 km)

Path width

800 yards (732 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$900,000

Counties

Marion, Cass and Caddo counties

Touchdown point

32.809, -94.196

Lift-off point

32.931, -94.021

Record number

1701211650-01

59 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS SHV, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 130 mph.

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

A strong upper level low pressure system emerged out across the Southern Plains during the morning and afternoon hours of January 21st. Ahead of this system, unseasonably warm, humid, and unstable air spread northward across much of the Ark-La-Tex from the Gulf of Mexico in advance of this system and associated Pacific cold front. A surface low pressure system also developed along the advancing cold front, with low level winds backing more southeast ahead of the upper level low. Coupled with strong wind shear and instability, scattered severe supercell thunderstorms rapidly developed during the mid and late afternoon hours across portions of extreme Eastern Texas, Southern Arkansas, and Northern Louisiana. The considerable wind shear contributed to rotating updrafts, such that twelve tornadoes touched down across the aforementioned areas. Instances of large hail was also reported with these supercells, given the very cold temperatures aloft. These severe thunderstorms exited the region during the mid evening hours into the Ark-La-Miss region where additional tornadoes and instances of severe thunderstorm damage was reported.

A strong upper level low pressure system emerged out across the Southern Plains during the morning and afternoon hours of January 21st. Ahead of this system, unseasonably warm, humid, and unstable air spread northward across much of the Ark-La-Tex from the Gulf of Mexico in advance of this system and associated Pacific cold front. A surface low pressure system also developed along the advancing cold front, with low level winds backing more southeast ahead of the upper level low. Coupled with strong wind shear and instability, scattered severe supercell thunderstorms rapidly developed during the mid and late afternoon hours across portions of extreme Eastern Texas, Southern Arkansas, and Northern Louisiana. The considerable wind shear contributed to rotating updrafts, such that twelve tornadoes touched down across the aforementioned areas. Instances of large hail was also reported with these supercells, given the very cold temperatures aloft. These severe thunderstorms exited the region during the mid evening hours into the Ark-La-Miss region where additional tornadoes and instances of severe thunderstorm damage was reported.

An EF-1 tornado with winds estimated near 100 mph touched down along Kellyville Cutoff Road south of Farm-To-Market Road 729 in the Kellyville community. This tornado travelled north and crossed FM 729 along Kellyville Cutoff Road, snapping and uprooting numerous trees and downing power lines along the tornado's path. Much of the damage occurred along Kellyville Cutoff Road between FM 729 and Highway 49, where one home was damaged and the roof removed from a single wide mobile home. One large tree also fell on a metal workshop near Highway 49 before lifting just shy of the Berea community.

An EF-2 tornado with maximum winds estimated near 130 mph touched down near Highway 49 just west of the Smithland community, snapping and uprooting numerous trees and downing power lines as it tracked northeast across Highway 43 just north of its intersection of Highway 49. As it crossed Highway 43, the tornado moved several vehicles, completely debarked 3-4 trees about 25-30 feet above the ground, and threw a party barge about 200 yards into a grove of trees. Trees were also downed on a few homes and a travel trailer was flipped over. The tornado continued northeast crossing County Road 3300, where it removed a roof of a home and shifted the home slightly off of its pad. A 75 year old woman inside this home took shelter inside a bathtub before the tornado ripped the tub out of the home and deposited it into some nearby woods. The woman suffered only some cuts and bruises but was able to walk away. The tornado continued northeast crossing County Road 3306 two different times, before entering far southeast Cass County on County Road 4455. This tornado remained on the ground as it entered western Caddo Parish Louisiana.

This is a continuation of the EF-2 tornado that initially touched down just west of the Smithland community in Marion County. This tornado continued northeast across County Road 4455 in extreme Southeast Cass County, snapping and uprooting numerous trees as it crossed Cass County Line Road along the Cass County Texas/Caddo Parish Louisiana line. The tornado intensified as it approached Cass County Line Road, where it snapped numerous trees and only removed a few shingles off of a home on the Texas side. Winds were estimated near 115 mph in this area as it continued northeast into Western Caddo Parish Louisiana between Vivian and Rodessa.

This is a continuation of the Cass County EF-2 tornado. This tornado crossed Cass County Line Road into Western Caddo Parish snapping and uprooting numerous trees along its path. A roof was torn off of a cinder block storage building and shifted a single wide mobile home several feet off of its foundation. Several shingles were ripped of a nearby home. A homeowner stated that 31 trees were down across an acre of property but remarkably, none of the trees fell on a home on that property. Maximum estimated winds along Cass County Road on the Caddo Parish side was 115 mph, with the tornado eventually weakening as it tracked northeast and lifting on Old Atlanta Road just south of Myrtis Texas Line Road.

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

40 minutes of warning. NWS SHV issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:10 UTC, 40 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 21:41 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 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:55 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.

Marshall (ASL), 43 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 53 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:47 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.

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

59 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.