Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2021

EF1 tornado, Cleveland Muni Arpt, Texas, May 11, 2021

This EF1 tornado ran 0.3 miles across Liberty County on May 11, 2021, touching down at 6:14 PM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $300,000 of property damage.

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 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.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
May 11, 2021
Touchdown
6:14 PM CDT (23:14 UTC)
Lifted
6:15 PM CDT (23:15 UTC)
On the ground
1 minutes
Path length
0.3 miles (0.4 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$300,000
County
Liberty County
Touchdown point
30.301, -95.011
Lift-off point
30.300, -95.007
Record number
2105111714-01

The damage survey

5 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS HGX, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 95 mph.

  • Trees uprooted pointing ESE.
  • Trees in back pointing east.
  • Numerous large trees uprooted, pointing toward the NE.
  • Numerous large trees laid down toward the ENE. Most shallow rooted

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

A lone thunderstorm in the morning uprooted numerous trees in parts of Polk County. More widespread thunderstorms in afternoon produced multiple reports of funnel clouds, hail and wind damage. Two brief tornadoes were also reported.

The tornado touched down near County Road 308 and uprooted several large hardwood trees, some of which damaged homes. The trees which fell in different locations were large but fairly shallow rooted.

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.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:41 UTC23:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGX
23:18 UTC00:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningHGX

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 Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 16:26 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.

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 12:00Z

11.2 hours before the tornado, 175 km from the path. May 11, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 2021-05-11Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2925 joules per kilogram, CIN -9, lifted condensation level 472 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, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 2021-05-11The 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 87 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 28 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
2925 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-9 J/kg
Surface CAPE
4317 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
472 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
28 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
20 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
87 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
155 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.8
Supercell composite
11.9
0-3 km lapse rate
6.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 00:00Z

0.8 hours after it, 175 km from the path. May 12, 2021.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 2021-05-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2262 joules per kilogram, CIN -1, lifted condensation level 759 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 2021-05-12The 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 53 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 33 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
2262 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-1 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3887 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
759 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
53 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
131 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.8
Supercell composite
12.5
0-3 km lapse rate
6.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Cleveland (6R3), 6 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
21:15 UTC82.868.5190° 14 kt181011.9
21:35 UTC81.769.4180° 6 kt1011.9
21:55 UTC81.570180° 8 kt1012.2
22:15 UTC8170.5160° 5 kt1012.2
22:35 UTC81.571160° 7 kt1012.2
22:55 UTC8171.6170° 5 kt1012.2
23:15 UTC7971.8350° 20 kt271013.9TSRA
23:35 UTC67.566.2360° 7 kt201014.2+TSRA
23:55 UTC67.566.7360° 11 kt181014.9-VCTSRA
00:15 UTC67.66710° 12 kt231015.2VCTS
00:35 UTC6664.220° 8 kt151015.6
00:55 UTC65.563.730° 6 kt1015.9

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

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 92 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:12 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
22:48 UTCHAIL 16 Sse OnalaskaPolk, TXNICKLE AND QUARTER SIZED HAIL NE OF LIVINGSTON.
23:14 UTCTORNADO5 Se ClevelandLiberty, TXTORNADO TOUCHED DOWN NEAR COUNTY ROAD 308. UPROOTED SEVERAL LARGE HARDWOOD TREES, SOME ON HOMES WHICH LED TO THE DAMAGE LISTED. TREES WERE LARGE BUT FAIRLY SHALLOW ROOTED. TREE FALL IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS.
23:18 UTCTSTM WND DMG7 Ese ClevelandLiberty, TXLARGE LIMBS DOWN IN TARKINGTON PRAIRIE.
23:19 UTCTSTM WND DMGClevelandLiberty, TX15-20 TREES AND POWERLINES BLOWN DOWN.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2021 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 11, 2021

1 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 112:10 PM CDTEF0Houston, TX0.020

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.