EF0 tornado, Phalba to Mabank, Texas, May 16, 2020

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.

Rating

EF0

Date

May 16, 2020

Touchdown

1:47 PM CDT (18:47 UTC)

Lifted

1:50 PM CDT (18:50 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

2.2 miles (3.5 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$20,000

Counties

Van Zandt and Kaufman counties

Touchdown point

32.407, -96.064

Lift-off point

32.410, -96.102

Record number

2005161247-01

12 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS FWD, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 85 mph.

Survey points are preliminary and are the raw material the published rating was built from. Source: NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit.

A slow-moving upper level disturbance, with the help of a dry line and a southward-pushing outflow boundary, produced multiple rounds of showers and storms Friday and Saturday. Damaging wind gusts and localized flash flooding were the main results, though two brief tornadoes also occurred.

This tornado continued into Kaufman County. A little more than an hour after the Malakoff tornado occurred, a second tornado developed over extreme southwest Van Zandt County, approximately 3 miles northeast of Mabank. This tornado touched down along VZ County Road 2718 just east of the intersection with VZ County Road 2719. The tornado moved almost due west along VZ CR 2718, producing intermittent tree and power line damage, as well as roof damage to several manufactured homes, site built homes, and a couple of farm outbuildings. The tornado continued westward, moving into extreme southeast Kaufman County and producing additional intermittent tree and outbuilding damage. The tornado dissipated near the intersection of Kaufman County Road 4007 and Farm to Market Road 90. The total length of the tornado was 2.19 miles and the maximum winds were 85 mph.

This tornado is a continuation from Van Zandt County. A little more than an hour after the Malakoff tornado occurred, a second tornado developed over extreme southwest Van Zandt County, approximately 3 miles northeast of Mabank. This tornado touched down along VZ County Road 2718 just east of the intersection with VZ County Road 2719. The tornado moved almost due west along VZ CR 2718, producing intermittent tree and power line damage, as well as roof damage to several manufactured homes, site built homes, and a couple of farm outbuildings. The tornado continued westward, moving into extreme southeast Kaufman County and producing additional intermittent tree and outbuilding damage. The tornado dissipated near the intersection of Kaufman County Road 4007 and Farm to Market Road 90. The total length of the tornado was 2.19 miles and the maximum winds were 85 mph.

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

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

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 16:28 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.

Athens (F44), 36 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 116 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 18:47 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

12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.