Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2020

EF0 tornado, Milo Center, Texas, June 22, 2020

This EF0 tornado ran 1.3 miles across Deaf Smith County on June 22, 2020, touching down at 8:30 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 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
June 22, 2020
Touchdown
8:30 PM CDT (01:30 UTC)
Lifted
8:35 PM CDT (01:35 UTC)
On the ground
5 minutes
Path length
1.3 miles (2.1 km)
Path width
25 yards (23 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Deaf Smith County
Touchdown point
34.946, -102.331
Lift-off point
34.939, -102.310
Record number
2006221930-01

What the Weather Service recorded

Up-slope east to northeast flow associated with a weak frontal boundary across the area assisted in maintaining a moist and unstable atmosphere across the Texas Panhandle. Scattered to numerous thunderstorms developed during the late afternoon and evening as an upper level disturbance in northwest flow aloft. The strongly sheared environment led to rotating storms, which supported the production of very large hail and damaging winds across western, northern and central parts of the Panhandle. A brief landspout tornado developed in the southwest Panhandle.

A brief tornado touched down in a rural area northwest of Dawn. No damage was reported. The tornado was rated EF0 due to the lack of damage to a power line that was crossed.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 21:27 UTC and running to 04:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:27 UTC04:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchAMA
01:01 UTC02:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA

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. The outlook in force was issued at 00:58 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.

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), 00:00Z

1.5 hours before the tornado, 65 km from the path. June 23, 2020.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Amarillo Airport, TX at 00:00Z on 2020-06-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1588 joules per kilogram, CIN -89, lifted condensation level 1913 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, Amarillo Airport, TX at 00:00Z on 2020-06-23The 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 10 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 47 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
1588 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-89 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2568 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1913 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
47 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
2 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
10 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
277 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
11.1
0-3 km lapse rate
8.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), 12:00Z

10.5 hours after it, 65 km from the path. June 23, 2020.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 2020-06-23Temperature 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 -84441, lifted condensation level 1546 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 2020-06-23The 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 -93 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-84441 J/kg
Surface CAPE
101 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1546 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-93 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-89 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 64 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:29 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
00:37 UTCHAIL 3.253 Ese VegaOldham, TX
00:50 UTCHAIL 2.52 E VegaOldham, TX
00:51 UTCHAIL 1.25VegaOldham, TX
00:53 UTCHAIL 1.754 Ese VegaOldham, TXLATE REPORT FROM STORM CHASER OF GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL. TIME AND LOCATION ESTIMATED FROM RADAR.
00:54 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 W WildoradoOldham, TXSEMI TRUCK FLIPPED ON INTERSTATE 40 AT MILE MARKER 42
00:54 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 W WildoradoOldham, TXSEMI TRUCK FLIPPED ON INTERSTATE 40 AT MILE MARKER 42.
00:54 UTCHAIL 25 W WildoradoOldham, TX
00:56 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 W VegaOldham, TXMULTIPLE SEMI TRUCKS FLIPPED AT MILE MARKER 35 ON INTERSTATE 40. TIME OF EVENT ESTIMATED FROM RADAR.
01:20 UTCHAIL 1.759 Sw WildoradoDeaf Smith, TXLATE REPORT OF GOLF BALL SIZE HAIL.
01:30 UTCTORNADO7 Wnw DawnDeaf Smith, TXBRIEF TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN A RURAL AREA NORTHWEST OF DAWN, TX. NO DAMAGE WAS REPORTED. TORNDADO WAS RATED EF0
01:30 UTCTORNADO7 Wnw DawnDeaf Smith, TXBRIEF TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN A RURAL AREA NORTHWEST OF DAWN, TX. NO DAMAGE WAS REPORTED. TORNDADO WAS RATED EF0.
01:38 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Wnw CanyonRandall, TXLATE SOCIAL MEDIA REPORT: A WOOD PAVILLION WITH A METAL ROOF WES LIFTED AND TOSSED DOWN AN ALLY. DAMAGE ALSO OCCURED TO A VEHICLE AS A RESULT.
01:53 UTCFLOOD5 W AmarilloPotter, TXSTREET FLOODING WITH WATER IN FRONT YARD
01:53 UTCFLOOD5 W AmarilloPotter, TXSTREET FLOODING WITH WATER IN FRONT YARD.
03:00 UTCTSTM WND GST 572 Ne FrionaParmer, TX

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

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.