Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2021
EF2 tornado, Peveto to Hartburg, Texas, October 27, 2021
From Peveto to Hartburg, this EF2 tornado ran 6.9 miles across Orange and Newton counties on October 27, 2021, touching down at 9:45 AM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 1, and did $3.9 million 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.
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 mphthis tornado
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.
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
- EF2
- Date
- October 27, 2021
- Touchdown
- 9:45 AM CDT (14:45 UTC)
- Lifted
- 9:59 AM CDT (14:59 UTC)
- On the ground
- 14 minutes
- Path length
- 6.9 miles (11.1 km)
- Path width
- 100 yards (91 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 1
- Property damage
- $3.9 million
- Counties
- Orange and Newton counties
- Touchdown point
- 30.177, -93.803
- Lift-off point
- 30.271, -93.765
- Record number
- 2110270845-01
The damage survey
17 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LCH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 130 mph.
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 vigorous storm system moved through Southeast Texas spawning tornadoes and severe weather.
A tornado touched down south of Old Hwy 90 near the Hwy 62 exit on I-10, severely damaging a brick home. A large building in the backyard was destroyed, an RV was tossed 25 yards, a truck flipped over, and 3 other vehicles were pushed out of the driveway. An ATV stored in the building in the backyard was picked up by the tornado and tossed across I-10. Further to the north on Hwy 62 at the TX DOT office, large warehouses in the back had the overhead doors blown in. Max estimated winds were 130 MPH.
A large tornado began near Hwy 1130, flipping a double wide mobile home that was tied down. A woman inside was critically injured. Other homes along Hwy 1130 had trees fall on them, roofs ripped off, and wind blown debris damage. The tornado continued north on South Teal Road, blowing down trees. Along Hudnall Road, several homes and garages lost their roofs. The tornado turned a little to the northeast, and hit the Woodland Ridge Acres subdivision off of Hwy 87, blowing down more trees. Max estimated wind speed was 130 MPH. The tornado continued into Newton County.
This tornado crossed from Orange County into Newton County, damaging|several homes and garages in Hartburg. Max estimated wind speed was 130 MPH.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
24 minutes of warning. NWS LCH issued a tornado warning for this county at 14:21 UTC, 24 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 14:45 UTC.
The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 12:59 UTC and running to 16:52 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12:59 UTC | 16:52 UTC | Tornado Watch | LCH |
| 13:42 UTC | 14:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | LCH |
| 14:10 UTC | 14:34 UTC | Tornado Warning | LCH |
| 14:21 UTC | 14:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | LCH |
| 14:41 UTC | 14:58 UTC | Tornado Warning | LCH |
| 15:24 UTC | 18:30 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | LCH |
| 15:35 UTC | 16:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH |
| 15:54 UTC | 16:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH |
| 16:04 UTC | 16:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH |
| 16:14 UTC | 16:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH |
| 16:30 UTC | 16:51 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | LCH |
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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 12:41 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
2.8 hours before the tornado, 57 km from the path. October 27, 2021.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 1422 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -5 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 2015 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 604 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 38 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 26 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 160 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 255 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 1.1
- Supercell composite
- 7.1
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 4.7 K/km
Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 00:00Z
9.2 hours after it, 57 km from the path. October 28, 2021.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -78778 J/kg
- Surface CAPE
- 0 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1072 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 68 kt
- 0-1 km bulk shear
- 26 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -233 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -22 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
- 0-3 km lapse rate
- 3.8 K/km
The radar
The Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 56 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 14:44 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13:55 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | 5 Ssw Nederland | Jefferson, TX | DAMAGE TO 4 HOMES NEAR THE INTERSECTION OF NICK AVENUE AND 63RD STREET. POSSIBLE TORNADO. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR DATA. |
| 14:21 UTC | TORNADO | 4 W Bridge City | Orange, TX | |
| 14:38 UTC | TORNADO | 5 Wnw Orange | Orange, TX | |
| 14:46 UTC | TORNADO | 4 Ese Mauriceville | Orange, TX | MULTIPLE DAMAGE REPORTS. |
| 14:50 UTC | TORNADO | 5 E Mauriceville | Orange, TX | |
| 14:56 UTC | TORNADO | 4 Ssw Deweyville | Newton, TX | |
| 16:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Vidor | Orange, TX | SPOTTER REPORTS LARGE TREES DOWN NEAR I-10 IN VIDOR |
| 16:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Vidor | Orange, TX | SPOTTER REPORTS LARGE TREES DOWN NEAR I-10 IN VIDOR. |
| 16:00 UTC | TSTM WND DMG | Vidor | Orange, TX | STORM SPOTTER REPORTS DAMAGE TO WRIGHTS BBQ ALONG MAIN ST IN VIDOR |
| 16:30 UTC | MARINE TSTM WIND 46 | 4 Se Sabine Pass | Jefferson, TX | |
| 17:30 UTC | FLASH FLOOD | 2 N Beaumont | Jefferson, TX | VIDEO OF FLOODING IN BEAUMONT. |
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 October 27, 2021
13 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 27 | 8:50 AM CDT | EF0 | Montgomery, TX | 0.0 | 20 | $500 | ||
| October 27 | 8:54 AM CDT | EF0 | Jefferson, TX | 0.3 | 100 | $150,000 | ||
| October 27 | 9:33 AM CDT | EF2 | Orange, TX | 2.1 | 50 | $2.0 million | ||
| October 27 | 10:35 AM CDT | EF1 | Beauregard Parish, LA | 1.9 | 100 | $5,000 | ||
| October 27 | 11:44 AM CDT | Unrated | Calcasieu Parish, LA | 0.6 | 1 | |||
| October 27 | 12:20 PM CDT | EF2 | Calcasieu Parish, LA | 2.2 | 300 | 2 | $2.5 million | |
| October 27 | 12:28 PM CDT | EF1 | Calcasieu Parish, LA | 0.9 | 50 | 1 | $1.0 million | |
| October 27 | 2:47 PM CDT | EF0 | Pointe Coupee Parish, LA | 10.5 | 25 | $5,000 | ||
| October 27 | 4:58 PM CDT | EF0 | Saint Tammany Parish, LA | 0.6 | 25 | $2,000 | ||
| October 27 | 6:40 PM CDT | EF0 | Saint Tammany Parish, LA | 2.0 | 25 | |||
| October 27 | 6:42 PM CDT | EF0 | Saint Tammany Parish, LA | 1.4 | 25 | |||
| October 27 | 6:49 PM CDT | EF1 | Pearl River, MS | 2.4 | 125 | $50,000 | ||
| October 27 | 8:31 PM CDT | EF1 | Jackson, MS | 0.9 | 50 | 1 | $150,000 |
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.