Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2020
Unrated tornado, Balmorhea to Mentone, Texas, March 13, 2020
From Balmorhea to Mentone, this Unrated tornado ran 9.0 miles across Loving and Reeves counties on March 13, 2020, touching down at 7:53 PM CDT and reaching 300 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.
EF065 to 85 mph
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
EF186 to 110 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
EF4166 to 200 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- March 13, 2020
- Touchdown
- 7:53 PM CDT (00:53 UTC)
- Lifted
- 8:02 PM CDT (01:02 UTC)
- On the ground
- 9 minutes
- Path length
- 9.0 miles (14.4 km)
- Path width
- 300 yards (274 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Counties
- Loving and Reeves counties
- Touchdown point
- 31.689, -103.730
- Lift-off point
- 31.725, -103.583
- Record number
- 2003131853-01
The damage survey
18 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS MAF, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The highest wind the damage implies is 123 mph.
- Pole snapped 8 feet off ground
- RV Moved and RV port removed
- RV flipped on side towards the north RV port removed
- RV flipped on its side 90 degrees
Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.
What the Weather Service recorded
An upper level low over southern California moved east and developed into an upper trough over Arizona and New Mexico. An upper level jet stream moved over West Texas and produced more lift in the atmosphere. A cold front moved south into the area and stalled near the Pecos River. There was moderate instability and high moisture and wind shear across the area. These conditions resulted in thunderstorms that produced tornadoes and wind damage near the Pecos River.
A thunderstorm in Reeves County produced a tornado about eight miles west of Mentone. A National Weather Service survey team was unable to locate damage directly caused by the tornado due to poor road networks. Photos provided by the public and emergency management suggested that the tornado was significant, however due to a lack of damage indicators, the survey team was unable to determine a path and intensity. Thus, the tornado was rated an EF-U. It was estimated that the tornado traveled roughly 12 miles before lifting from storm spotter reports and radar signatures. The tornado started in Reeves County and moved east into Loving County. It lifted before reaching Highway 302 and moved just north of Mentone.
A thunderstorm in Reeves County produced a tornado about eight miles west of Mentone. A National Weather Service survey team was unable to locate damage directly caused by the tornado due to poor road networks. Photos provided by the public and emergency management suggested that the tornado was significant, however due to a lack of damage indicators, the survey team was unable to determine a path and intensity. Thus, the tornado was rated an EF-U. It was estimated that the tornado traveled roughly 12 miles before lifting from storm spotter reports and radar signatures. The tornado started in Reeves County and moved east into Loving County. It lifted before reaching Highway 302 and moved just north of Mentone.
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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:25 UTC and running to 02:50 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20:25 UTC | 02:50 UTC | Tornado Watch | MAF |
| 00:11 UTC | 01:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF |
| 00:37 UTC | 01:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF |
| 00:54 UTC | 01:24 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF |
| 01:01 UTC | 01:19 UTC | Tornado Warning | MAF |
| 01:02 UTC | 01:19 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | MAF |
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 19:32 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.
Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), 00:00Z
0.9 hours before the tornado, 140 km from the path. March 14, 2020.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -85107 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 9 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 746 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 88 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 23 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 219 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 280 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- -0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 3.8 K/km
Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), 12:00Z
11.1 hours after it, 140 km from the path. March 14, 2020.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 69 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -62 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 1 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 478 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 75 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 17 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 30 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 224 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- -1.1
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 3.2 K/km
The surface observations
Pecos (PEQ), 39 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 22:55 UTC | 74.3 | 59 | 90° 16 kt | 1010.5 | ||
| 23:15 UTC | 74.3 | 59.4 | 90° 16 kt | 20 | 1010.5 | |
| 23:35 UTC | 74.5 | 59.4 | 100° 15 kt | 1010.5 | ||
| 23:55 UTC | 72.5 | 59.5 | 70° 14 kt | 1010.8 | ||
| 00:15 UTC | 69.6 | 59 | 70° 15 kt | 18 | 1010.5 | |
| 00:35 UTC | 67.8 | 58.5 | 60° 14 kt | 1010.5 | ||
| 00:55 UTC | 66.4 | 58 | 80° 20 kt | 25 | 1009.8 | |
| 01:15 UTC | 68.2 | 58 | 340° 18 kt | 39 | 1012.9 | VCTS |
| 01:35 UTC | 65.3 | 59.4 | 50° 9 kt | 1012.5 | ||
| 01:55 UTC | 65.7 | 59 | 20° 4 kt | 1012.9 | ||
| 02:15 UTC | 65.8 | 59.2 | 20° 8 kt | 1012.9 | ||
| 02:35 UTC | 63 | 59.2 | 330° 13 kt | 1014.2 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
The radar
The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 141 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 00:53 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) | Report | Where | County | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 00:50 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 8 Wsw Mentone | Reeves, TX | *** 1 INJ *** EVENT LASTED 3 MINUTES. PEAK WINDSPEEDS WERE ESTIMATED BETWEEN 100-130 MPH. PATH LENGTH WAS 0.75 MILES AND PATH WIDTH WAS 300 YARDS. SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE WAS DONE TO HWY 285 RV PARK. |
| 00:53 UTC | TORNADO | 8 W Mentone | Reeves, TX | TORNADO ENDED 5.75 MILES NE OF MENTONE. EF-UNKNOWN. PATH LENGTH WAS 12 MILES. TORNADO LASTED 9 MINUTES. |
| 01:13 UTC | TORNADO | 1 Nw Barstow | Ward, TX | TORNADO ENDED 1.2 MILES NW OF BARSTOW. TORNADO LASTED 1 MINUTE. ESTIMATED PEAK WINDSPEEDS OF 100 MPH. AN EF-1 WAS THE GIVEN CLASSIFICATION. PATH LENGTH WAS 0.47 MILES AND PATH WIDTH WAS 20 YARDS. |
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 March 13, 2020
2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
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.