EF1 tornado, Lockett, Texas, April 23, 2021

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.

Rating

EF1

Date

April 23, 2021

Touchdown

6:34 PM CDT (23:34 UTC)

Lifted

6:42 PM CDT (23:42 UTC)

On the ground

8 minutes

Path length

3.2 miles (5.1 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$50,000

County

Wilbarger County

Touchdown point

34.077, -99.334

Lift-off point

34.057, -99.285

Record number

2104231734-01

13 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS OUN, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 118 mph.

• Collapsed tin barn, but unsure if this is storm-related.
• Numerous vehicles and heavy farm implements displaced, including a pick-up truck thrown ~100 yards south-southwest.
• Damage path across County Road 81S. Fence damage, debris deposit.

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

A dryline and an upper trough led to the development of numerous thunderstorms, producing hail, wind, and several tornadoes during the afternoon and evening of the 23rd.

This tornado initially developed in southeast Hardeman County and moved into Wilbarger County west of Lockett. This may have been a series of tornadoes across southeast Hardeman and far western Wilbarger Counties as the condensation funnel was not visible at times. However one chaser reported observing surface circulation continue even when the condensation funnel was not visible, so it is being documented here as a single tornado. The tornado became more visible and stronger west of Lockett as it was coming out of the breaks of the Pease River. The tornado hit a farmstead about 3 miles west of Lockett where a home suffered significant damage, outbuildings were destroyed or heavily damaged, and vehicles and farm implements were displaced, including a pick-up truck tossed 100 yards to the south-southwest. The tornado then turned eastward and was observed to dissipate just west of the town of Lockett.

This tornado was observed developing about 2 miles east-southeast of Lockett. Soon after developing, it caused significant roof damage to a home 2.5 miles east-southeast of Lockett on FM-433. Outbuildings were destroyed southeast of here along FM-433 and County Road 95 S. Tree, power pole, fence and outbuilding damage continued as the tornado moved southeast. The ending location was estimated based on spotter reports.

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

35 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:59 UTC, 35 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:15 UTC and running to 01:02 UTC.

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 Slight Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:58 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 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.

Vernon (F05), 18 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Altus AFB radar (KFDR), 45 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:31 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 2021 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

5 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.