EF3 Jacksboro tornado, Texas, March 21, 2022

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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF3

Date

March 21, 2022

Touchdown

3:35 PM CDT (20:35 UTC)

Lifted

4:20 PM CDT (21:20 UTC)

On the ground

45 minutes

Path length

34.5 miles (55.5 km)

Path width

880 yards (805 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

9

Counties

Jack and Montague counties

Touchdown point

33.045, -98.330

Lift-off point

33.440, -97.970

Record number

2203211435-01

56 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS FWD, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 148 mph.

• Tree is completely uprooted; roof materials littered around 2 houses. Some tree branches are also snapped.
• Crumpled light pole, siding missing from press box and bent field goal post. Tree damage continues to north.
• 24000 lbs water in tank transported from near first damage point (did not roll because there was no fence damage in between) 15 ft tall and 10 foot wide
• Small horse shelter damaged

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

A strong shortwave trough aided in the development of scattered to numerous thunderstorms during the late morning, afternoon, and evening hours of March 21. Thunderstorms initially fired along a dryline, many of which became severe, and some of which produced strong tornadoes. A total of 17 tornadoes were confirmed by storm survey teams, the strongest of which was the EF-3 Jacksboro tornado. One death occurred in a tornado in Grayson County near the Red River.

A long track tornado tracked from far southwestern Jack County, through the west side of Jacksboro, and into far southwestern Montague County. The tornado is believed to have begun near Halsell Ranch Rd and Barton Chapel Road where tree damage was observed. The first significant damage noted was on Kinder Mountain Road where the blades of 4 wind turbines were shredded, significant tree damage was observed, and damage to a home and storage barns was observed. The winds were likely EF2 strength in this location. The tornado continued to be tracked to the northeast by observing mostly minor house/roof damage and notable tree damage. As the tornado approached Jacksboro from the southwest it appeared to strengthen and widen. EF2 damage was observed to a secured manufactured home on ONeal Lane and also through the Synterra Estates neighborhood, just south of Highway 380 and west of FM 4. From here, the tornado moved into the western portions of Jacksboro where many homes sustained EF2 damage from Burwick Road all the way to the High School north of Highway 380. The tornado was approximately half a mile wide as it moved through this part of the city. Considerable roof damage and tree damage was observed in this area. Some walls on homes were impacted, and some structures that were not well secured collapsed. The tornado reached EF3 strength as it approached Wichita Avenue and the Jacksboro Elementary School. One well built home on Wichita Avenue suffered very significant roof damage along with other noted damage that indicated winds over 135 mph. From there, the tornado directly struck the elementary school where it ripped the roof off the gymnasium, causing one wall to collapse, bent flag poles to the ground, overturned cars, and more. Continuing to the northeast, the tornado moved through the high school campus, also ripping part of the roof off the high school, damaging the press box at the stadium, bending the field goal posts, bending a light pole to the ground, and more. This damage was determined to be EF2 in strength. Continuing on, the tornado was tracked all the way into far southwestern Montague County by mostly tree damage, damage to metal sheds and outhouses, minor to moderate damage to roofs, and collapsed high tension wire towers. Maximum estimated winds were in the 140-150 mph range. The total length of the tornado was 34.5 miles, accounting for the 0.53 miles the tornado tracked into Montague County (see separate entry).

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

10 minutes of warning. NWS FWD issued a tornado warning for this county at 20:25 UTC, 10 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:00 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 19:03 UTC and running to 00:07 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:59 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 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), 109 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 20:33 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

35 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.