Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2019
EF0 tornado, Ft Stockton, Texas, June 21, 2019
This EF0 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Pecos County on June 21, 2019, touching down at 6:10 PM CDT and reaching 30 yards wide. It killed nobody.
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.
EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- June 21, 2019
- Touchdown
- 6:10 PM CDT (23:10 UTC)
- Lifted
- 6:14 PM CDT (23:14 UTC)
- On the ground
- 4 minutes
- Path length
- 0.3 miles (0.5 km)
- Path width
- 30 yards (27 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Pecos County
- Touchdown point
- 30.716, -102.679
- Lift-off point
- 30.720, -102.677
- Record number
- 1906211710-01
What the Weather Service recorded
An upper-level trough was over the western part of the country. There was intense daytime heating and a dryline was in place across West Texas. An upper level disturbance moved over the area which brought additional lift. High instability was present as well as dry air below the cloud layer which increased the threat for strong winds. These conditions resulted in thunderstorms that produced large hail, strong winds, and a tornado.
A thunderstorm produced a tornado 16 miles southeast of Fort Stockton. The tornado was seen by both law enforcement and the public. The length and path width are estimated. No damage was reported with this tornado.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
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.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21:58 UTC | 22:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF |
| 22:24 UTC | 00:15 UTC | Flood Advisory | MAF |
| 22:36 UTC | 01:30 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | MAF |
| 22:46 UTC | 23:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF |
| 23:14 UTC | 23:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | MAF |
| 23:28 UTC | 00:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | MAF |
| 23:45 UTC | 00:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF |
| 23:55 UTC | 00:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF |
| 00:25 UTC | 01:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF |
| 00:36 UTC | 02:30 UTC | Flood Advisory | MAF |
| 00:55 UTC | 01:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF |
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 Marginal Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:52 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.
Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), 12:00Z
11.2 hours before the tornado, 144 km from the path. June 21, 2019.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1145 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -297 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1966 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2345 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 17 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 23 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 113 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 140 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.3
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.8 K/km
Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), 00:00Z
0.8 hours after it, 144 km from the path. June 22, 2019.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1554 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -91 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 988 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2719 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 33 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 9 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 109 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 217 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.5
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 8.9 K/km
What was reported nearby
Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23:00 UTC | HAIL 1 | 13 E Fort Stockton | Pecos, TX | |
| 23:10 UTC | TORNADO | 16 Se Fort Stockton | Pecos, TX | |
| 23:13 UTC | TORNADO | 16 Se Fort Stockton | Pecos, TX | FUNNEL NOT FULLY CONDENSED, BEGAN TO DISSIPATE. |
| 23:25 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 10 Se Fort Stockton | Pecos, TX | POWER POLE SNAPPED AT MID POINT AND POWER LINES DOWN JUST WEST OF HWY 285. |
| 23:25 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 8 Sse Fort Stockton | Pecos, TX | |
| 23:28 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 8 Sse Fort Stockton | Pecos, TX | |
| 23:38 UTC | HAIL 1.75 | 11 S Fort Stockton | Pecos, TX |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2019 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of June 21, 2019
12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 21 | 5:42 PM CDT | EF1 | Marshall, KY | 0.8 | 50 | $500,000 | ||
| June 21 | 6:00 PM CDT | EF1 | Lyon, KY | 2.1 | 150 | $75,000 | ||
| June 21 | 6:22 PM CDT | EF1 | Trigg, KY | 4.3 | 200 | $150,000 | ||
| June 21 | 6:31 PM CDT | EF1 | Christian, KY | 1.0 | 75 | $120,000 | ||
| June 21 | 6:31 PM CDT | EF1 | Christian, KY | 7.6 | 175 | $150,000 | ||
| June 21 | 6:57 PM CDT | EF0 | Todd, KY | 2.8 | 60 | $5,000 | ||
| June 21 | 7:35 PM CDT | EF1 | Simpson, KY | 0.6 | 75 | $10,000 | ||
| June 21 | 7:39 PM CDT | EF1 | Allen, KY | 4.6 | 125 | $50,000 | ||
| June 21 | 8:00 PM CDT | EF0 | Davidson, TN | 2.0 | 200 | $100,000 | ||
| June 21 | 8:04 PM CDT | EF0 | Davidson, TN to KY | 1.3 | 50 | $30,000 | ||
| June 21 | 8:04 PM CDT | EF1 | Macon, KY to TN | 3.3 | 150 | $325,000 | ||
| June 21 | 9:24 PM CDT | EF1 | Fentress, TN | 3.0 | 150 | $20,000 |
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.