EF1 tornado, Andrews Co Arpt, Texas, March 12, 2019

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 mphthis tornado

   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.

Rating

EF1

Date

March 12, 2019

Touchdown

9:55 PM CDT (02:55 UTC)

Lifted

10:01 PM CDT (03:01 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

0.8 miles (1.3 km)

Path width

880 yards (805 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$400,000

County

Andrews County

Touchdown point

32.320, -102.488

Lift-off point

32.329, -102.479

Record number

1903122055-01

21 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MAF, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 108 mph.

• Empty fiberglass type oil storage tank blown over
• Decorative wind mill blown eastward
• Outbuilding overturned to east
• partial roof damage, blown eastward

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

A strong upper low was over Arizona with the associated upper trough beginning to move over West Texas and southeast New Mexico providing lift. Plentiful moisture was across the area as well as good wind shear. Instability was kept lower across most of the area for much of the day due to persistent cloud cover, but the cloud cover cleared out across western portions of the area later in the day which increased instability. Low cloud bases were present and there was rotational spin in the atmosphere. These conditions resulted in severe thunderstorms with large hail, strong winds, and tornadoes.

A line of thunderstorms moved across Andrews County with small circulations called meso-vortices along this line. By 9:51 pm CDT, as the storm crossed Highway 385 south of Andrews, the presence of a hook echo was noted on radar. The survey team noted that damage extended from along County Road 2601 from SE 650 Road to SE 1000 Road, and then northeastward to just north of Hamrick Loop. The survey team also noted the majority of the damage coincided with the radar location of the meso-circulation and hook echo. The survey team determined that the damage was the result of a tornado. Damage to outbuildings, residential structures, power poles, and to a 300-foot transmission tower suggest that the most significant damage is indicative of a moderate to high end EF-1 tornado, with wind speeds estimated at 80-100 mph. The tornado was estimated to be 1/5 mile wide. Based on radar and damage information, it is believed that the tornado had a life span of 6 minutes, from approximately 9:55 pm to 10:01 pm. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate.

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 tornado watch, issued at 21:36 UTC and running to 04:00 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:59 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.

Andews (E11), 4 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 51 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:52 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 2019 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

3 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.