EF1 tornado, Round Mtn to Marble Falls, Texas, April 12, 2020

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

April 12, 2020

Touchdown

5:23 AM CDT (10:23 UTC)

Lifted

5:34 AM CDT (10:34 UTC)

On the ground

11 minutes

Path length

7.0 miles (11.2 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

Property damage

$1.0 million

Counties

Blanco and Burnet counties

Touchdown point

30.440, -98.361

Lift-off point

30.480, -98.277

Record number

2004120423-01

An upper level shortwave trough moved around a low over the southwestern US and enhanced lift over the mountains in northern Mexico and a dryline in West Texas. These features interacted with a warm, moist airmass over South Central Texas to generate thunderstorms. Some of these storms produced tornadoes and large hail. The large hail that hit the City of Del Rio and near Brackettville likely caused in excess of 10 million dollars in damage but as of this writing do not have an accurate estimate of damage from city/county/state officials or private insurance companies.

A small tornado touched down near Round Mountain in northern Blanco County. It first appeared to touch down near RR 962 then moved northeast by Coyote Trail before impacting two RV parks on Hwy 281 and Hof Brau. Estimates from Blanco County Emergency Management show that a total of approximately 60 residences were impacted with at least 11 being completely destroyed and eight more sustaining major damage. There were two minor injuries. The tornado continued moving northeast and crossed the Blanco/Burnet County line near Creek Ln. and then dissipated in southern Burnet County near CR 401 S.

A small tornado touched down near Round Mountain in northern Blanco County. It first appeared to touch down near RR 962 then moved northeast by Coyote Trail before impacting two RV parks on Hwy 281 and Hof Brau. Estimates from Blanco County Emergency Management show that a total of approximately 60 residences were impacted with at least 11 being completely destroyed and eight more sustaining major damage. There were two minor injuries. The tornado continued moving northeast and crossed the Blanco/Burnet County line near Creek Ln. and then dissipated in southern Burnet County near CR 401 S. The damage and injuries occurred in Blanco County.

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

15 minutes of warning. NWS EWX issued a tornado warning for this county at 10:08 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 10:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 07:00 UTC and running to 11:29 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 06:02 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.

The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 89 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 10:20 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 2020 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

72 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 73 of them

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.