Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2018

EF0 tornado, Brownsboro to Tilmon, Texas, March 28, 2018

From Brownsboro to Tilmon, this EF0 tornado ran 1.2 miles across Caldwell County on March 28, 2018, touching down at 4:57 AM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 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
March 28, 2018
Touchdown
4:57 AM CDT (09:57 UTC)
Lifted
4:59 AM CDT (09:59 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
1.2 miles (1.9 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
County
Caldwell County
Touchdown point
29.762, -97.574
Lift-off point
29.761, -97.554
Record number
1803280357-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A cold front moved into a warm, very moist airmass over South Central Texas and generated thunderstorms. Some of these storms produced large hail and heavy rain. The heavy rain led to localized flash flooding. Rainfall totals in worst hit counties ranged from 4.09 to 5.72 inches.

In the early morning hours, a cluster of storms moved east across portions of Caldwell County. Along the leading edge of the thunderstorms, an NWS survey concluded a small EF-0 (estimated peak wind, 80mph) tornado formed and produced some minor damage approximately seven miles northeast of Luling. Wind damage to some trees was found on CR 144 with some roof damage reported off of Wattsville Rd. A small tornado track was found that crossed Pasture Rd. and continued east just north of Wattsville Rd. ending just east of Tenney Creek Rd.

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

The warnings

6 minutes of warning. NWS EWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 09:51 UTC, 6 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 10:15 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
02:53 UTC08:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchEWX
03:00 UTC00:00 UTCFlash Flood WatchEWX
09:51 UTC10:15 UTCTornado WarningEWX
15:39 UTC18:30 UTCFlash Flood WarningEWX
02:41 UTC03:06 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningEWX
03:07 UTC05:07 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchEWX

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 04:55 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 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.

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), 00:00Z

10.0 hours before the tornado, 227 km from the path. March 28, 2018.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Corpus Christi, TX at 00:00Z on 2018-03-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2154 joules per kilogram, CIN -37, lifted condensation level 579 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, Corpus Christi, TX at 00:00Z on 2018-03-28The 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 114 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 37 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
2154 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-37 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3723 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
579 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
114 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
62 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.1
Supercell composite
6.4
0-3 km lapse rate
4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), 12:00Z

2.0 hours after it, 227 km from the path. March 28, 2018.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Corpus Christi, TX at 12:00Z on 2018-03-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 996 joules per kilogram, CIN -96, lifted condensation level 599 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, Corpus Christi, TX at 12:00Z on 2018-03-28The 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 180 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 40 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
996 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-96 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2111 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
599 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
180 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
296 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.0
Supercell composite
11.8
0-3 km lapse rate
4.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 45 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 09:58 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
08:22 UTCFLASH FLOOD1 Sse San MarcosHays, TXREPORTS OF WATER OVER ROADWAYS REPORTED AT LBJ AND THE I-35 FRONTAGE ROAD AS WELL AS GUADALUPE STREET AND SESSOMS ST IN SAN MARCOS.
09:57 UTCTORNADO8 Ne LulingCaldwell, TXIN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS OF WEDNESDAY MORNING MARCH 28, A CLUSTER OF STORMS MOVED EAST ACROSS PORTIONS OF CALDWELL COUNTY. ALONG THE LEADING EDGE OF THE THUNDERSTORMS, A NWS SURVEY CONCLUDED A SMALL EF-0 (EST. PEAK WIN
10:33 UTCFLASH FLOOD1 Nne KyleHays, TXROAD CLOSURES DUE TO FLOODING ACROSS THE CITY OF KYLE.
11:15 UTCHEAVY RAIN 4.663 W KyleHays, TXUSGS RAIN GAUGE AT BLANCO RIVER NEAR KYLE REPORTS 4.66 INCHES OF RAIN SINCE MIDNIGHT.
12:19 UTCHEAVY RAIN 4.352 Sw Bergstrom InternatTravis, TXLCRA HYDROMET SITE AT ONION CREEK AND US 183 REPORTS 4.35 INCHES OF RAIN SINCE MIDNIGHT.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2018 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of March 28, 2018

9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 283:06 PM CDTEF1Natchitoches Parish, LA16.01,200$201,000
March 284:47 PM CDTEF1Caldwell Parish, LA2.8400$115,000
March 285:01 PM CDTEF1Richland Parish, LA5.36504$230,000
March 285:08 PM CDTEF1Franklin Parish, LA3.9400$90,000
March 288:03 PM CDTEF1Attala, MS1.950$30,000
March 288:28 PM CDTEF1Choctaw, MS8.5800$45,000
March 288:58 PM CDTEF0Hinds, MS0.825$15,000
March 289:12 PM CDTEF0Rankin, MS1.650$10,000
March 2812:56 AM CDTEF0Refugio, TX0.975$100,000

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.