EF0 tornado, Praha, Texas, May 3, 2019

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

May 3, 2019

Touchdown

7:14 AM CDT (12:14 UTC)

Lifted

7:26 AM CDT (12:26 UTC)

On the ground

12 minutes

Path length

2.8 miles (4.5 km)

Path width

20 yards (18 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$20,000

Counties

Lavaca and Fayette counties

Touchdown point

29.602, -97.087

Lift-off point

29.642, -97.085

Record number

1905030614-01

10 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS EWX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 80 mph.

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

Convection from the previous day left a number of outflow boundaries across South Central Texas. These interacted with a mid to upper level shortwave trough to trigger thunderstorms. Some of these storms produced tornadoes, large hail, damaging wind gusts, and heavy rain that led to flash flooding.

A small EF0 tornado formed early Friday morning as showers and storms were moving north through western Lavaca County. The tornado touched down just northeast of Moulton in Lavaca County and traveled 1.9 miles and then crossed into Fayette County about 100 yards west of CR 257. Some oak tree damage was found along the fence line on and along CR 256 near the intersection with CR 257 just northeast of Moulton. The weak tornado damaged some trees as it moved north fairly close to CR 257 and CR 257A. Maximum winds were estimated to be 75 mph.

A small EF0 tornado formed early Friday morning as showers and storms were moving north through western Lavaca County. The tornado touched down just northeast of Moulton in Lavaca County and traveled 1.9 miles and then crossed into Fayette County about 100 yards west of CR 257. It continued for another 0.9 miles in Fayette County. Tree damage was found on E. Wiedemann Rd. just on the other side of the Lavaca County line in far southern Fayette County. It appears that the weak tornado dissipated near this location as no other damage was found farther north. Maximum winds were estimated to be 75 mph.

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.

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 05:55 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.

La Grange/Fayette Regional (3T5), 35 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 92 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 12:14 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

7 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.