Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2018

EF0 tornado, Manvel Coyle Arpt, Texas, March 29, 2018

This EF0 tornado ran 0.0 miles across Brazoria County on March 29, 2018, touching down at 2:16 AM CDT and reaching 20 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $1,000 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 29, 2018
Touchdown
2:16 AM CDT (07:16 UTC)
Lifted
2:17 AM CDT (07:17 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.0 miles (0.0 km)
Path width
20 yards (18 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$1,000
County
Brazoria County
Touchdown point
29.406, -95.434
Lift-off point
29.406, -95.434
Record number
1803290116-01

The damage survey

3 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS HGX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 60 mph.

  • Fence panels displaced toward the north. other panels off toward the east.
  • Trampoline carried over field, landed on house 1000 feet to south. Leg of trampoline penetrated roof, kitchen area.
  • Fence debris thrown toward east.

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

What the Weather Service recorded

A line of thunderstorms produced some wind damage, flash flooding and a tornado.

A brief touchdown produced EF-0 damage. The tornado broke a fence and lofted debris as far as around 100 yards to the east. Another portion of the fence was carried toward the north northwest. Damage was very localized with none to homes and very little to trees and vegetation.

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

The warnings

3 minutes of warning. NWS HGX issued a tornado warning for this county at 07:13 UTC, 3 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 07:30 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
17:03 UTC02:00 UTCTornado WatchHGX
06:52 UTC07:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGX
07:08 UTC10:15 UTCFlood AdvisoryHGX
07:09 UTC10:15 UTCFlood AdvisoryHGX
07:13 UTC07:30 UTCTornado WarningHGX
07:28 UTC08:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGX
07:53 UTC08:32 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGX
08:01 UTC10:00 UTCFlood AdvisoryHGX

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 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.

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 00:00Z

7.3 hours before the tornado, 230 km from the path. March 29, 2018.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 2018-03-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1263 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 604 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 2018-03-29The 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 164 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 62 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
1263 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2531 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
604 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
62 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
164 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
194 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.6
Supercell composite
9.7
0-3 km lapse rate
6.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 12:00Z

4.7 hours after it, 230 km from the path. March 29, 2018.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 2018-03-29Temperature 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 -75873, lifted condensation level 726 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, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 2018-03-29The 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 -384 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 85 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-75873 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
726 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
85 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-384 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
24 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Houston SW (AXH), 12 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
05:35 UTC70.269.4 1007.1-VCTSRA
05:55 UTC70.369.6 1007.1VCTS
06:15 UTC7068.5 1007.5VCTS
06:35 UTC69.868.5 1006.4
06:55 UTC69.868.5 1007.1VCTS
07:15 UTC6563.5 1009.8+VCTSRA
07:35 UTC6362.2 1011.2+TSRA
07:55 UTC61.360 1011.5+TSRA
08:15 UTC61.260 1011.9TSRA
08:35 UTC61.259.5 1012.2+TSRA
08:55 UTC60.860 1012.5+TSRA
09:15 UTC60.860 1012.2+RA

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

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 35 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 07:16 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
07:14 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Ssw Iowa ColonyBrazoria, TXPOSSIBLE TORNADO DAMAGE
07:15 UTCTSTM WND DMGEne Wild PeachBrazoria, TXCAR PORT AND FENCING DAMAGE.
07:16 UTCTORNADO3 Ssw Iowa ColonyBrazoria, TXBRIEF EF-0 TORNADO. VERY LOCALIZED FENCE DAMAGE WITH LOFTED DEBRIS TO NEAR 300 FEET.
07:19 UTCTSTM WND DMGSweenyBrazoria, TXWIND DAMAGE AROUND SWEENY.
07:35 UTCTSTM WND DMGAlvinBrazoria, TXHUGE TREE LIMB BROKEN OFF OF AN OAK TREE.
07:55 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Sw ArcadiaGalveston, TXMINOR RESIDENTIAL AWNING AND TREE LIMB DAMAGE.
08:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 E Bayou EstatesHarris, TXPOWER LINE DOWN.
08:15 UTCMARINE TSTM WIND 393 Ne HeightsGalveston, TXWIND GUST WAS MEASURED AT WEATHERFLOW SITE XLEV.
08:20 UTCTSTM WND DMGGalvestonGalveston, TXAN OLEANDER TREE WAS KNOCKED DOWN ALONG WITH A COLLAPSED WOODEN BENCH SWING ON 15TH AND M STREET.

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 29, 2018

6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 291:25 AM CDTEF0Aransas, TX0.130$50,000
March 291:39 AM CDTEF1Calhoun, TX0.4150$1.0 million
March 294:21 AM CDTEF0Calcasieu Parish, LA0.9150$10,000
March 294:36 AM CDTEF1Calcasieu Parish, LA6.3800$100,000
March 294:47 AM CDTEF1Calcasieu Parish, LA1.9425$100,000
March 295:14 AM CDTEF1Allen Parish, LA4.4900$300,000

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.