EF2 tornado, Cedar Mills to Little City, 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 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.

Rating

EF2

Date

March 21, 2022

Touchdown

6:11 PM CDT (23:11 UTC)

Lifted

6:21 PM CDT (23:21 UTC)

On the ground

10 minutes

Path length

5.1 miles (8.2 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

1

Injuries

11

Property damage

$500,000

Counties

Marshall and Grayson counties

Touchdown point

33.841, -96.819

Lift-off point

33.900, -96.766

Record number

2203211711-01

36 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS FWD, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 115 mph.

• Trailer rolled around and flipped
• In tact house moved off foundation.
• Many trees uprooted and snapped
• Multiple manufactured homes flipped and destroyed

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 powerful closed low across New Mexico and West Texas brought numerous thunderstorms and heavy rainfall to the region on the 21st. A few tornadoes were reported along with severe straight line winds and isolated large hail.

The tornado first touched down in a field near Thousand Oak Trails. It then moved through the Sherwood Oaks community, producing extensive and widespread damage to trees and homes. Multiple manufactured homes were flipped, many trees were snapped in half, and one home was moved off its foundation. The tornado then crossed Lake Texoma and moved into Marshall County Oklahoma. A total of 105 structures were damaged, 53 destroyed, and 27 sustained major damage. Maximum estimated winds in Grayson County were 130 mph. One fatality occurred in a mobile home.

This tornado initially developed in Grayson County Texas (see Storm Data for North Central Texas from NWS Fort Worth), and crossed Lake Texoma into Marshall County Oklahoma. After moving off Lake Texoma, this tornado damaged a number of homes and mobile homes in the Buncombe Creek community with EF2 damage noted in this area. The tornado continued northeast and damaged an outbuilding and trees near Little Road before dissipating.

The first area of damage was noted about 2 miles south of Kingston where a house received significant roof damage. The tornado moved northeast crossing US-70 in the far eastern portion of Kingston where a number of homes and businesses were significantly damaged, including metal buildings where roof and wall panels were pulled from the building. Tree damage continued to the northeast and debris from the structures on US-70 fell in areas to the northeast as the tornado approached the northwestern arm of Lake Texoma. Damage to trees, outbuildings and a couple of homes continued as the tornado approached Little City. Widespread tree and structure damage occurred in Little City, primarily of EF0 and low EF1 intensity before the tornado dissipated just northeast of town.

The deaths

1 direct deaths are recorded for this tornado, each with what Storm Data knows of it.

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

13 minutes of warning. NWS FWD issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:58 UTC, 13 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:20 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:15 UTC and running to 02:04 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 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.

Sherman/Denison (GYI), 21 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 152 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:09 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.