Unrated tornado, Cotton Center, Texas, May 25, 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 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. Unratedthis tornado

   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

Unrated

Date

May 25, 2019

Touchdown

6:08 PM CDT (23:08 UTC)

Lifted

6:16 PM CDT (23:16 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

4.6 miles (7.5 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Hale County

Touchdown point

34.002, -102.057

Lift-off point

34.003, -101.976

Record number

1905251708-01

1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LUB, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 100 mph.

• Time estimated by Radar. Damage estimated by video from Fletcher Aerial Solutions.

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

Another consecutive day of severe weather unfolded across the South Plains of West Texas and the extreme southern Texas Panhandle. An upper level trough remained in place over the Intermountain West with a weak short wave moving over the South Plains during the afternoon hours. Convection initially developed late in the morning in eastern New Mexico while rapidly expanding in coverage as convection moved east. Storms quickly became severe as they took advantage of ample instability. A few reports of large hail and severe wind gusts were received from thunderstorms on the 25th. ||The most significant weather from these storms were flooding and tornadoes. A NWS storm survey revealed that four tornadoes occurred on the 25th with one EF-2 and three EF-U ratings. The first was approximately eight miles west-southwest of Anton in Hockley County but flooded roads prevented a survey from taking place. The second tornado, rated EF-2, occurred for only six minutes but caused significant damage near Plainview (Hale County). The most significant damage from this tornado was the destruction of a trussed cell phone tower. Several other areas of damage were noted from this tornado along Interstate 27 just north of Plainview. The third tornado was on the ground for approximately 4.7 miles but no damage indicators prevented a rating to be assigned to this tornado. The fourth and final tornado was observed in Hall County near the ghost town of Eli.||Very high precipitable water values relative to the time of year were observed on nearby RAOBs. Furthermore, many of the storms were slow moving. Exacerbating the flooding were the very wet grounds from previous days precipitation. A NWS cooperative weather observer's home near Littlefield flooded on both the 24th and 25th due to torrential rainfall. The supercell storm that produced a tornado near Plainview also developed major flooding in and around Plainview.

Moving over mainly farm and ranch land, there were no damage indicators hit to provide an EF rating. The only indications of damage were an overturned center pivot irrigation system near a curve of Farm to Market Road 37, 2.5 miles WNW of Cotton Center. A cotton trailer and livestock feed bunk were also pulled across the road near this location. The tornado continued moving east passing one mile north of Cotton Center and no damage was found near Farm to Market Road 179 where the path crossed the road. The tornado dissipated one mile ENE of Cotton Center. Poor road conditions prevented a NWS storm survey to determine if any damage existed beyond this point.

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

25 minutes of warning. NWS LUB issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:43 UTC, 25 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:19 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 18:06 UTC and running to 00:43 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:48 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.

Plainview (PVW), 33 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 43 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:04 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

21 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.