Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2022

EF2 tornado, Joshua Arpt to Egan, Texas, April 4, 2022

From Joshua Arpt to Egan, this EF2 tornado ran 9.7 miles across Johnson County on April 4, 2022, touching down at 10:41 PM CDT and reaching 150 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 1, and did $1.0 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.

  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 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. 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.

  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
EF2
Date
April 4, 2022
Touchdown
10:41 PM CDT (03:41 UTC)
Lifted
10:54 PM CDT (03:54 UTC)
On the ground
13 minutes
Path length
9.7 miles (15.6 km)
Path width
150 yards (137 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
1
Property damage
$1.0 million
County
Johnson County
Touchdown point
32.483, -97.427
Lift-off point
32.458, -97.267
Record number
2204042141-01

The damage survey

1 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS FWD, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The highest wind the damage implies is 85 mph.

  • Damage and loss of metal roof panels. Wall of bay doors damaged. Straight line winds most likely punched in the large metal doors and then lifted the metal roof off the building on the west side. Tree breakage was also notes along the perimeter of the property, and fence damage on the north side, likely due to parts of the roof hitting the fence.

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

Thunderstorms developed along a slow moving cold front on the evening of Monday, April 4, aided by the arrival of an upper level disturbance. All modes of severe weather were produced across parts of primarily North Texas. This event generated 6 tornadoes, 4 of which were in Johnson County. The strongest tornado was an EF-2. Additional swaths of damaging downburst winds were documented in Kaufman and Van Zandt counties.

A tornado tracked from northwest of Joshua to near FM 917 and Interstate 35. The maximum estimated winds with this tornado are 110-115 mph, due to damage to a home on CR 806 near Egan. Otherwise, the majority of the damage was EF-0 or EF-1. The tornado began near Chisholm Trail Parkway and CR 913 where it damaged a few manufactured homes. Damage to the east of this area was sporadic until the tornado approached the Egan area. The tornado damaged several metal building systems at a business along FM 917 and also damaged two properties on Courtney Lane. The most significant damage occurred on CR 806 where a home lost most of its roof and significant tree damage was observed. The tornado continued to do minor damage until about CR 810 where it likely dissipated.

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. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 00:24 UTC and running to 04:37 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
00:24 UTC04:37 UTCTornado WatchFWD
03:16 UTC04:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWD
03:49 UTC04:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWD
03:50 UTC04:15 UTCTornado WarningFWD
04:10 UTC04:23 UTCTornado WarningFWD
04:28 UTC04:54 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWD

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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 00:59 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.

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 00:00Z

3.7 hours before the tornado, 40 km from the path. April 5, 2022.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2022-04-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 969 joules per kilogram, CIN -12, lifted condensation level 1125 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2022-04-05The 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 130 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 55 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
969 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-12 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1779 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1125 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
55 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
17 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
130 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
202 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.1
Supercell composite
7.6
0-3 km lapse rate
6.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 12:00Z

8.3 hours after it, 40 km from the path. April 5, 2022.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2022-04-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 471 joules per kilogram, CIN -183, lifted condensation level 706 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°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, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2022-04-05The 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 176 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 35 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
471 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-183 J/kg
Surface CAPE
189 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
706 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
176 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
188 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.9
0-3 km lapse rate
4.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 12 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 03:42 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
03:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Ssw OvillaEllis, TXDELAYED REPORT: 12 INCH TREE KNOCKED OVER NEAR HACKBERRY CT IN MIDLOTHIAN.
03:41 UTCTORNADO 1102 S BriaroaksJohnson, TXA TORNADO TRACKED FROM NORTHWEST OF JOSHUA TO NEAR FM 917 AND INTERSTATE 35. THE PRELIMINARY MAXIMUM RATING OF THIS TORNADO IS EF-2 WITH MAXIMUM ESTIMATED WINDS OF 110-115 MPH, DUE TO DAMAGE TO A HOME ON CR 806 NEAR EGAN
03:45 UTCTSTM WND DMG3 Ssw JoshuaJohnson, TXMULTIPLE POWER POLES AND LARGE TREES DOWN AT MAIN ST. (STATE HIGHWAY 174) AND FM3048.
03:45 UTCHAIL 14 Sw CrowleyJohnson, TXQUARTER HAIL AT FM1902 AND CR920.
03:48 UTCHAIL 1DallasDallas, TXQUARTER HAIL AT WALNUT HILL LANE AND HILLCREST RD.
03:49 UTCTORNADO 802 Nne KeeneJohnson, TXA SMALL AND NARROW TORNADO DAMAGED MOSTLY TREES AND CAUSED MINOR ROOF DAMAGE NORTH OF KEENE. MAXIMUM WIND SPEEDS ARE ESTIMATED AT 80 MPH.
03:50 UTCHAIL 1BurlesonJohnson, TXQUARTER HAIL 2 MILES SOUTHWEST OF SPINKS AIRPORT.
03:58 UTCTORNADO4 Ese BriaroaksJohnson, TXAN EF-0 TORNADO WITH MAXIMUM WINDS OF 85 MPH CAUSED MINOR DAMAGE TO ROOFS AND DAMAGE TO OUTBUILDINGS, ANIMAL HOMES, AND TREES ACROSS AN AREA NORTH OF ALVARADO. THE TORNADO LIKELY BEGAN NEAR CR 600 AND FM 917, TRACKING EA
04:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG1 Nnw AlvaradoJohnson, TXDELAYED REPORT: MINOR DAMAGE TO SHINGLES FOUND ACROSS SEVERAL HOMES IN NEIGHBORHOOD DUE TO STRAIGHT LINE WINDS. THERE WAS ALSO DAMAGE TO THE ROOF OF AN OUTDOOR BUILDING FURTHER EAST OF THIS AREA.
04:00 UTCTSTM WND DMG5 Nne AlvaradoJohnson, TXHOMES DAMAGED 2 MILES SOUTH OF LILLIAN (FM2738 AND MARIANNA WAY).
04:05 UTCTSTM WND DMGVenusJohnson, TXCR510 AND ADRIELS LANE (HOMESTEAD AREA OF VENUS) - 3 MOBILE HOMES, BARNS, AND SMALL BUILDINGS DAMAGED.
04:06 UTCTORNADO2 Nnw VenusJohnson, TXANALYSIS FROM A STORM SURVEY AND CASA RADAR INDICATED AN EF-0 TORNADO DEVELOPED JUST SOUTH OF THE INTERSECTION OF FM 157 AND CR 506 NORTH OF VENUS. THE TORNADO TRACKED ACROSS MOSTLY OPEN FIELD, BUT WAS IDENTIFIED BY TREE
04:13 UTCTORNADO4 Wsw MidlothianEllis, TXA SMALL TORNADO OCCURRED ALONG E WYATT ROAD NEAR WARD ROAD. ROOF DAMAGE TO HOMES AND TREE DAMAGE WAS OBSERVED.
04:17 UTCTSTM WND DMGMidlothianEllis, TX18-WHEELER FLIPPED OVER AT LOVE'S IN MIDLOTHIAN (US 67 AND W. MAIN ST.).
04:30 UTCTSTM WND DMG4 Ssw OvillaEllis, TXCORRECTS PREVIOUS TSTM WND DMG REPORT FROM 4 SSW OVILLA. DELAYED REPORT: 12 INCH TREE KNOCKED OVER NEAR HACKBERRY CT IN MIDLOTHIAN. TIME CORRECTED.
05:00 UTCFLASH FLOOD5 Se Cockrell HillDallas, TXDELAYED REPORT: HIGH WATER INCIDENT AT 4500 BLOCK OF VILLAGE FAIR DRIVE.

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2022 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 4, 2022

6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 47:46 PM EDTEF0Hardee, FL0.325$20,000
April 49:32 PM CDTEF1Collin, TX0.3188$200,000
April 410:49 PM CDTEF0Johnson, TX1.775$50,000
April 410:58 PM CDTEF0Johnson, TX4.9200$100,000
April 411:06 PM CDTEF0Johnson, TX2.850$200,000
April 411:13 PM CDTEF0Ellis, TX1.430$50,000

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.