EF0 tornado, Westover Hills to Grapevine, Texas, December 13, 2022

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   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 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

EF0

Date

December 13, 2022

Touchdown

8:18 AM CST (14:18 UTC)

Lifted

8:20 AM CST (14:20 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

0.3 miles (0.5 km)

Path width

25 yards (23 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$1,000

County

Tarrant County

Touchdown point

32.829, -97.339

Lift-off point

32.832, -97.333

Record number

2212130818-01

6 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS FWD, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 110 mph.

• Significant roof damage with large holes in the roof of the Sam's Club. Front wall leaning slightly inward. An 18-wheeler was blown over in the parking lot.
• The Discount Tire sustained rood decking damage and several of the windows of the lobby were blown out. A few power poles were damaged, and tree damage was also observed.
• A few roofs damaged at the storage facility, mostly metal panels peeled up.. The back side of the storage unit closest to the Discount Tire was blown down or pushed down. Tree damage was also observed around the facilities.

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

A tornado outbreak occurred in the morning hours of December 13th resulting in 16 tornadoes across the northern half of the CWA; generally all along and north of Interstate 20. A total of 4 tornadoes were rated EF-2, and 9 people were injured, but none sustained life saving injuries. The most injuries occurred in the Grapevine tornado in Tarrant County. In addition to the tornadoes, one storm produced hail up to the size tennis balls in Rockwall County.

A supercell embedded within the line of storms moved into the White Settlement/far northwestern Fort Worth area shortly after 8:00 AM. As the storm moved over the NAS JRB, video evidence shows a tornado developed near the control tower. Damage was observed to a metal warehouse building where the metal roof was peeled off and scattered across the taxiway. The tornado continued to track northeast damaging a fitness facility before dissipating just south of the commissary near the food court. The heaviest of the damage occurred to the fitness facility, where most of the sunshades were ripped off. Additional damage was observed to trees along the path of the tornado. Maximum estimated winds were 75 mph.

The parent mesocyclone that impacted the NAS JRB continued moving off to the northeast, developing another tornado that mainly impacted the Marion Sansom Park. Damage was confined to trees, with a few trees snapped near the top of the trunk. The tornado crossed Roberts Cut Off Rd, causing more tree damage and minor fence damage before dissipating as it entered the city of Sansom Park. Maximum estimated winds were 105 mph.

Video evidence was received of a brief, EF0 tornado that crossed over the train tracks at the railyard east of Blue Mound Road and north of Meacham Blvd. The tornado knocked over a few rail cars. A few broken branches were noted east of the railyard. Maximum estimated winds were around 70 mph.

An EF-1 tornado with maximum winds of 90 mph developed just west of Davis Blvd on Sayer Ln in North Richland Hills, causing damage to residential properties. Roof damage was observed, along with damage to trees, as the tornado moved to the northeast. Notable roof damage occurred to several businesses along Davis Blvd before moving over the NRH Tipps Canine Hollow Dog Park. The tornado crossed Northfield Park then moved into another residential neighborhood where additional tree and shingle damage was observed. The tornado crossed Precinct Line just north of Lavaca Trl and dissipated as it reached W. McDonwell School Rd.

An EF-1 tornado moved through Grapevine beginning near the Mustang Elite Car Wash on Ira E Woods Ave south of Hwy 114. The tornado crossed Ira E Woods Ave causing significant roof damage to the Sam's Club. Large sections of the roof were peeled off leaving large holes. The tornado then damaged a storage unit facility and a Discount Tire store. Many of the windows of the Discount Tire lobby where blown out, and a few power poles next to the store were also damaged. The tornado continued moving northeast damaging trees and shingles in a residential area. Near the intersection of Northwest Highway & North Dove Road the tornado damaged another car wash and a restaurant. The tornado next caused damage to two HVACs at Grapevine Middle School. The next notable damage was to the Grapevine Service Center where significant roof damage was observed, and several garage doors where blown out. One small truck was also overturned. The tornado continued through a residential area where it caused minor damage to several trees and roofs, but it damaged several large trees at the Grapevine Cemetery. The tornado continued to weaken from here until it dissipated near the Glass Cactus on the Gaylord Texan Resort property. Maximum estimated winds were 110 mph.

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

7 minutes of warning. NWS FWD issued a tornado warning for this county at 14:11 UTC, 7 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 14:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 10:00 UTC and running to 17:00 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 12:54 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.

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 29 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 14:19 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 2022 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

30 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.