EF1 tornado, Buffalo Lake to Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Texas, March 13, 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

March 13, 2021

Touchdown

3:31 PM CST (21:31 UTC)

Lifted

3:36 PM CST (21:36 UTC)

On the ground

5 minutes

Path length

2.5 miles (4.0 km)

Path width

500 yards (457 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Randall County

Touchdown point

34.801, -101.912

Lift-off point

34.824, -101.877

Record number

2103131531-01

45 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS AMA and NWS LUB, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 115 mph.

• Trailer pushed and flipped 15 feet from original spot.
• Caught patio lip and lifted roof west.
• West edge of damage. Down fencing.
• First of 10 broken power poles along the road to north.

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

A very potent upper level system produced widespread hazards from heavy snow across the front range/Rockies to severe weather across the Southern High Plains. The vigorous closed upper low was approached the Four Corners region from the west. A warm front lifted north and northwest across all but the Oklahoma Panhandle and the northwest Texas Panhandle while a sharpening dryline was located over eastern New Mexico. The dryline preceded a Pacific cold front which was also located in eastern New Mexico and swept eastward later in the evening. A broken line of thunderstorms developed ahead of the dryline in eastern New Mexico and tracked north and east into the western and southwestern Texas Panhandle before continuing to move east across the remainder of the eastern Panhandles during the evening hours, growing upscale as the Pacific cold front swept eastward and overtook the dryline. Nine confirmed tornadoes occurred early in the event during the afternoon hours and some of these were large, violent and were on the ground for long periods of time. Three separate instances occurred where two tornadoes were in progress from the same parent thunderstorm at the same time. While traveling across mostly rural areas, the tornadoes did impact several farm homes as well as Palo Duro State Park and Greenbelt Lake.

This tornado was a continuation from Swisher County. The tornado damaged numerous electrical transmission lines with power poles snapped along the path. Several homes sustained significant roof damage. One home lost large sections of roof |decking material and this together with a collapsed cell phone |tower led to an EF2 rating. Otherwise, damage to power poles, out |buildings, trees, and fencing suggested EF0 to EF1 ratings along |the tornado path. This tornado handed off to a new tornado - the |Palo Duro Canyon to Washburn tornado - just east of its path and |both tornadoes occurred simultaneously for several minutes before |the first tornado dissipated.

A brief secondary tornado was documented by storm chasers and|residents in the area with video and photographs. This tornado|was just north of the main tornado and appears to have been quickly|absorbed by the larger circulation. The tornado damaged a barn and|several power lines along its short track.

This satellite tornado occurred south of the main large tornado that was ongoing at the time. Radar and chaser reports/video suggest it was an anticyclonic tornado that occurred on the southern edge of the storms rear flank downdraft. A brief radar debris signature was noted after the tornado crossed he interstate. The tornado snapped power poles along I-27, south of the main tornado track, but no other notable damage occurred as it remained in open ranch and grassland country otherwise.

The original tornado - Happy to Palo Duro Canyon - associated with this tornado's parent supercell handed off to this second major tornado. Storm chaser video and damage patterns suggest the tornado was either multi-vortex or that multiple satellites may have occurred. Both the original and newly developing tornadoes were briefly on the ground simultaneously. This tornado was narrow initially and possibly consisted of multiple cones as it damaged camp grounds around the rim of Palo Duro State Park. One cabin sustained EF1 damage as its roof was completely removed. A porch likely caught the wind and aided in the damage of the roof, which is why this tornado was not rated higher. Several travel trailers were flipped and one was destroyed at another campground, but none of these trailers were anchored. Minor damage occurred to weaker structures at the state park entrance and there was notable tree damage as well. The tornado crossed the canyon and grew large on the east side, but remained in very rural country. Another rapid and complicated tornado handoff to the Palo Duro Canyon to Washburn tornado occurred east of the canyon around the Randall/Armstrong County line near the intersection of 1258 and Goathead Road as a new circulation took over.

This tornado was photographed by storm chasers positioned east of the area as it crossed the Swisher county line into Randall County. No damaged was observed and the tornado lifted relatively quickly.

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

10 minutes of warning. NWS AMA issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:21 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:37 UTC and running to 00:00 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 19:40 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.

Hereford (HRX), 40 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 50 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:28 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

20 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.