Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2020

EF1 tornado, Hogg, Texas, January 10, 2020

This EF1 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Burleson County on January 10, 2020, touching down at 9:34 PM CST and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $30,000 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 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.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
January 10, 2020
Touchdown
9:34 PM CST (03:34 UTC)
Lifted
9:35 PM CST (03:35 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$30,000
County
Burleson County
Touchdown point
30.485, -96.804
Lift-off point
30.486, -96.803
Record number
2001102134-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A strong storm system produced a squall line that moved eastward across the area and produced a lot wind damage and one tornado.

A National Weather Service storm survey determined a short-lived EF-1 tornado caused damage in western Burleson County. A shed was destroyed and numerous trees were snapped. A trailer was thrown southward around 40 yards while other debris was thrown toward the northeast.

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

The warnings

0 minutes of warning. NWS HGX issued a tornado warning for this county at 03:34 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 04:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 03:09 UTC and running to 06:02 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
03:09 UTC06:02 UTCTornado WatchHGX
03:25 UTC04:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGX
03:34 UTC04:00 UTCTornado WarningHGX
04:15 UTC04:32 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGX

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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:55 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 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.

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 12:00Z

8.4 hours after it, 265 km from the path. January 11, 2020.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2020-01-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 498 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2020-01-11The 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 75 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 89 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
26 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
498 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
89 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
75 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
286 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1
0-3 km lapse rate
3.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Caldwell (RWV), 10 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
01:50 UTC7269.4170° 13 kt221005.1
02:10 UTC71.669.8180° 13 kt171005.8
02:30 UTC71.669.6170° 15 kt1005.4VCTS
02:50 UTC71.469.8170° 15 kt211005.1VCTS
03:10 UTC70.570.2180° 14 kt231004.7VCTSBR
03:30 UTC70.370190° 12 kt201005.1TSRA BR
03:50 UTC6059.5290° 25 kt431008.5+TSRA BR
04:10 UTC59.458.5310° 18 kt291006.8-VCTSRA BR
04:30 UTC59.457.7300° 13 kt231007.1
04:50 UTC59.557.6290° 10 kt1008.8
05:10 UTC5957.7280° 10 kt1008.8-RA
05:30 UTC58.656.7300° 9 kt1009.1-RA

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

The radar

The Ft Hood radar (KGRK), 61 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:33 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
03:28 UTCTSTM WND DMG9 S GiddingsFayette, TX18 WHEELER BLOWN OVER ON U.S. 77 NEAR WARDA. ALSO REPORTS OF NUMEROUS TREES OVER NEARBY ROADS.
03:30 UTCTSTM WND GST 603 Wsw GiddingsLee, TXMEASURED AT GIDDINGS-LEE COUNTY AIRPORT - KGYB.
03:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG11 Wsw CaldwellBurleson, TXTREES AND POWER LINES WERE DOWNED IN THE CR 322 AND CR 324 AREA.
03:34 UTCTORNADO7 Wsw CaldwellBurleson, TXNWS STORM SURVEY DETERMINED A SHORT-LIVED EF1 TORNADO (PATH LENGTH APPROXIMATELY 0.11 MILES AND PATH WIDTH APPROXIMATELY 100 YARDS) DESTROYED A SHED AND SNAPPED NUMEROUS TREES. THE TORNADO THREW A TRAILER SOUTHWARD AROUN
03:40 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Ssw Round TopFayette, TXSEVERAL METAL SIDING BUILDINGS NEAR FM ROAD 954 AND HIGHWAY 237 AROUND WARRENTON WERE DESTROYED. NUMEROUS TREES UPROOTED AND SNAPPED 2 MILES WEST OF WARRENTON NEAR BAUER ROAD. PRELIMINARY INDICATIONS WERE BELIEVED TO BE
03:40 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 Ssw CaldwellBurleson, TXA BUSINESS OFFICE TRAILER WAS DESTROYED.
03:54 UTCTSTM WND DMGSomervilleBurleson, TXSOMERVILLE PD REPORTED DOWNED TREES AND THE ENTIRE TOWN WITHOUT POWER.
04:04 UTCTSTM WND DMGSomervilleBurleson, TXSOMERVILLE PD REPORTS DOWNED TREES, ENTIRE TOWN HAS LOST POWER.
04:07 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Ene Up429Brazos, TXPOWER LINES DOWN NEAR WILLIAM D FITCH PKWY AND HWY 6.
04:09 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Ese Wixon ValleyBrazos, TXROOF BLOWN OFF HOME. DAMAGE TO TREES AND POWER LINES.
04:22 UTCTSTM WND DMG2 W Up429Brazos, TXREPORT FROM MPING: 3-INCH TREE LIMBS BROKEN; POWER POLES BROKEN.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2020 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of January 10, 2020

17 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
January 1010:34 AM CSTEF0Lincoln, OK1.310$25,000
January 1011:55 AM CSTUnratedMayes, OK1.050
January 102:27 PM CSTEF1Polk, MO8.750$500,000
January 102:46 PM CSTEF0Wise, TX0.475$10,000
January 102:49 PM CSTEF1Cherokee, OK5.8250$50,000
January 103:20 PM CSTEF1Hickory, MO1.6100$45,000
January 105:41 PM CSTEF1Johnson, TX1.1250$20,000
January 105:42 PM CSTEF0Greene, MO7.075$400,000
January 106:15 PM CSTEF0Delta, TX0.5150$20,000
January 106:22 PM CSTEF0Delta, TX0.1100$5,000
January 106:42 PM CSTEF0Dallas, TX1.1175$15,000
January 107:44 PM CSTEF2Logan, AR13.6250$500,000
January 107:45 PM CSTEF1Franklin, AR3.9400$35,000
January 1011:21 PM CSTEF1Cherokee, TX0.875$105,000
January 1011:33 PM CSTEF1Nacogdoches, TX2.116011$75,000
January 1011:43 PM CSTEF1Rusk, TX4.2500$80,000
January 1011:53 PM CSTEF1Angelina, TX0.3150$60,000

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.