Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2020

Unrated tornado, Bonnie View, Texas, July 25, 2020

This Unrated tornado ran 0.1 miles across Refugio County on July 25, 2020, touching down at 12:48 PM CDT and reaching 25 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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 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.

The record

Rating
Unrated
Date
July 25, 2020
Touchdown
12:48 PM CDT (17:48 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Refugio County
Touchdown point
28.160, -97.350
Lift-off point
28.160, -97.350
Record number
2007251148-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Hurricane Hanna was the first hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic Basin hurricane season and made landfall on the lower Texas coast north of Port Mansfield on the afternoon of the 25th. Hanna was the first hurricane to make landfall in Texas since Hurricane Harvey. ||Hanna began as a tropical wave, first noted for possible development when it was near Hispaniola on the 19th. The tropical wave moved northwest across Cuba into the central Gulf of Mexico where it became a tropical depression on the morning of the 22nd. Tropical Storm Hanna formed late in the evening on the 23rd as it moved west-northwest over the central Gulf of Mexico. Hanna continued to strengthen and became a hurricane on the morning of the 25th around 100 miles east of the Middle Texas coast. Hurricane Hanna turned to the southwest and made landfall over Kenedy County, between Baffin Bay and Port Mansfield, late in the afternoon on the 25th with a peak intensity of 90 mph and a central pressure of 973 millibars.||Tropical storm force winds occurred along the Middle Texas coast into the eastern portions of the Brush Country from the afternoon of the 25th until the early morning hours of the 26th. Hurricane force gusts occurred over the coastal portion of Kleberg County during the afternoon of the 25th. ||Storm surge from Hanna affected the entire Middle Texas coast from the 25th until the 26th. Storm surge ranged from 1 to 3 feet above ground level for the coastal areas of Aransas, Calhoun, and Refugio Counties. Storm surge ranged from 2.5 to 4.5 feet above ground level for coastal areas of San Patricio, Nueces, and Kleberg Counties. ||The highest surge was at Bob Hall Pier with a reading of 5.48 feet mean higher high water. Storm surge damaged numerous piers and docks in Nueces and Corpus Christi Bays south to Baffin Bay. Storm surge damaged navigation markers in the Corpus Christi Ship Channel. Some parts of the Corpus Christi marina were damaged. Bob Hall Pier sustained significant damage with the t-head parts of the pier being destroyed. Damage from Hurricane Hanna was estimated to be around 54 million dollars.||Minor wind damage occurred across the Coastal Bend as tropical storm force winds caused power outages and minor tree damage. There were three tornadoes over the Coastal Bend associated with the outer bands of Hurricane Hanna. The three tornadoes were weak (EF0). The tornadoes affected the communities of Bonnie View, Pernitas Point, and Lagarto.

Tornado occurred over an open field. No damage was documented.

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

The warnings

11 minutes of warning. NWS CRP issued a tornado warning for this county at 17:37 UTC, 11 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 18:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
12:00 UTC22:20 UTCFlash Flood WatchCRP
17:37 UTC18:00 UTCTornado WarningCRP

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:55 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.

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), 12:00Z

5.8 hours before the tornado, 48 km from the path. July 25, 2020.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Corpus Christi, TX at 12:00Z on 2020-07-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 757 joules per kilogram, CIN -12, lifted condensation level 732 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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, Corpus Christi, TX at 12:00Z on 2020-07-25The 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 143 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 26 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
757 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-12 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3975 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
732 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
143 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
77 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
5.8
0-3 km lapse rate
5.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), 00:00Z

6.2 hours after it, 48 km from the path. July 26, 2020.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Corpus Christi, TX at 00:00Z on 2020-07-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 573 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 576 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, Corpus Christi, TX at 00:00Z on 2020-07-26The 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 98 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 31 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
573 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1141 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
576 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
98 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
94 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
1.7
0-3 km lapse rate
5.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Corpus Christi radar (KCRP), 45 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:48 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
15:12 UTCSTORM SURGE2 Wsw Cc NasNueces, TXREPORTS OF FLOODING AT JFK CAUSEWAY AND OSO BRIDGE TURNAROUNDS.
17:50 UTCTORNADO6 Ssw WoodsboroRefugio, TXTORNADO REPORTED BETWEEN SINTON AND REFUGIO. LOCATION ESTIMATED BY RADAR.
17:52 UTCSTORM SURGE4 Wnw Corpus ChristiNueces, TXSNAPCHAT POST OF FLOODING DUE TO STORM SURGE NEAR SWANTER PARK ON OCEAN DR.
18:08 UTCSTORM SURGE7 Ssw PortlandNueces, TXSNAPCHAT POST OF FLOODING DUE TO STORM SURGE IN CORPUS CHRISTI MARINA.
19:00 UTCSTORM SURGE5 Sw PortlandNueces, TXVIDEO OF FLOODING FROM STORM SURGE ON NORTH BEACH. MOST ROADS ARE COMPLETELY COVERED.
19:00 UTCSTORM SURGE7 Sw PortlandNueces, TXPHOTOS OF HIGH WATER LEVELS AND DAMAGE TO THE MARINA NEAR THE SEAWALL. TIME IS ESTIMATED BASED OFF OTHER DAMAGE REPORTS.

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 July 25, 2020

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
July 252:26 AM CDTEF0Clay, MN0.440
July 256:31 PM CDTEF1Sibley, MN1.950
July 256:37 PM CDTEF0Sibley, MN0.215
July 2510:11 PM CDTEF0Live Oak, TX2.5100$10,000
July 2510:30 PM CDTEF0Live Oak, TX0.6100$5,000

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.