Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2019

EF0 tornado, Arcadia, Texas, May 4, 2019

This EF0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Galveston County on May 4, 2019, touching down at 2:31 AM CDT and reaching 30 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $10,000 of property damage.

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.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF0
Date
May 4, 2019
Touchdown
2:31 AM CDT (07:31 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
County
Galveston County
Touchdown point
29.359, -95.131
Lift-off point
29.359, -95.131
Record number
1905040131-01

What the Weather Service recorded

An early morning line of thunderstorms produced damaging winds and a brief tornado.

Brief touchdown. Peeled off tin roof, damaged manufactured home and storage shed.

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

The warnings

5 minutes of warning. NWS HGX issued a tornado warning for this county at 07:26 UTC, 5 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 08:00 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 02:00 UTC and running to 09:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
02:00 UTC09:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchHGX
06:40 UTC08:45 UTCFlood AdvisoryHGX
07:18 UTC08:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGX
07:26 UTC08:00 UTCTornado WarningHGX
08:02 UTC09:45 UTCFlood AdvisoryHGX

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:56 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.

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 00:00Z

7.5 hours before the tornado, 205 km from the path. May 4, 2019.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 2019-05-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1400 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 714 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 2019-05-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 14 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 33 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1400 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2770 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
714 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
14 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
243 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
1.4
0-3 km lapse rate
5.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 12:00Z

4.5 hours after it, 205 km from the path. May 4, 2019.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 2019-05-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 22 joules per kilogram, CIN -143, lifted condensation level 887 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 2019-05-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -81 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 34 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
22 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-143 J/kg
Surface CAPE
42 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
887 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-81 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-68 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.9 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 14 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 07:33 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
07:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Ne Shady AcresHarris, TXTREE FELL ON HOME NEAR 21ST AND 600 BLOCK IN HOUSTON HEIGHTS.
07:33 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Sw Santa FeGalveston, TXNWS EMPLOYEE SURVEYED DAMAGE REPORTS IN SANTA FE, INCLUDING PHOTOS OF ROOF DAMAGE ON GAMBLE RD. FOUND EVIDENCE OF DAMAGING STRAIGHT LINE WINDS.
07:40 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Sw Santa FeGalveston, TXROOF AND STRUCTURE DAMAGE TO A HOME ON GAMBLE ROAD
07:42 UTCMARINE TSTM WIND 39Morgan'S PointHarris, TXWIND GUST FROM PORTS SITE
08:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Nne MeadowviewBrazoria, TXLARGE TREE LIMB DOWN ON GOLF COURSE OFF OF MCHARD ROAD.
08:00 UTCTSTM WND GST 621 Ese San LeonGmz335, TXFROM EAGLE POINT PORTS SITE
08:00 UTCMARINE TSTM WIND 621 Ese San LeonGmz335, TXFROM EAGLE PORT PORTS SITE

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 May 4, 2019

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 46:59 AM CDTUnratedPlaquemines Parish, LA3.325
May 410:56 AM CDTEF0Saint Tammany Parish, LA3.450
May 411:18 AM CDTEF1Saint Tammany Parish, LA to MS4.5200
May 44:53 PM EDTEF1Chatham, GA2.21701
May 47:05 PM CDTUnratedBailey, TX0.030
May 47:28 PM CDTUnratedOldham, TX0.110
May 48:02 PM CDTUnratedBailey, TX0.030

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.