EF1 tornado, Town Bluff to Jasper Bell Arpt, Texas, May 19, 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

May 19, 2019

Touchdown

1:07 AM CDT (06:07 UTC)

Lifted

1:09 AM CDT (06:09 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

1.3 miles (2.1 km)

Path width

600 yards (549 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$50,000

Counties

Jasper and Tyler counties

Touchdown point

30.756, -94.146

Lift-off point

30.770, -94.133

Record number

1905190007-01

19 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LCH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 105 mph.

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

Another front moved into the region and stalled. Multiple short waves moved across the region while the front was along the coast. Finally on the 21st strong low pressure developed on the boundary and pushed the boundary into the gulf. Coastal flooding occurred as the low traversed the area.

A tornado touched down in the eastern sections of Barlow Lake Estates, uprooting or snapping numerous trees. Twenty two telephone poles had to be replaced due to the damage. One tree landed on a mobile home, injuring one man. He suffered minor to moderate injuries and was treated and released at a local hospital. The max wind speed was estimated at 105 mph. The tornado cross the Neches River and dissipated in the forest.

After the tornado passed through the Barlow Estates it cross the Neches River. The tornado soon dissipated in the forest.

A tornado touched down near County Road 323 and County Road 317 where it severely damaged a mobile home and snapped numerous pine trees. The tornado continued to snap pine trees as it went up County Road 317 before it dissipated near County Road 320. Max estimated wind speed was 105 mph.

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

9 minutes of warning. NWS LCH issued a tornado warning for this county at 05:58 UTC, 9 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 06:17 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 03:16 UTC and running to 09:00 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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:02 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.

Jasper County-Bell Field Airport (JAS), 17 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 113 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 06:09 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

19 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.