EF0 tornado, Paradise to Herman, Texas, March 21, 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

March 21, 2022

Touchdown

4:47 PM CDT (21:47 UTC)

Lifted

4:53 PM CDT (21:53 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

6.1 miles (9.8 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Wise County

Touchdown point

33.133, -97.623

Lift-off point

33.198, -97.551

Record number

2203211547-01

7 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 98 mph.

• Self storage building, self storage of Decatur.
• Another view of worst damage
• More storage building damage. Roofing materials about 150 yards from buildings.
• Public Report: Extensive damage to our roof. Garage door blown in. Small shed is now in our neighbors tree. Somebody lost a trampoline. It's in our back yard.

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.

The tornado formed southeast of Paradise, near Wise County Road 4393. Damage to an outhouse and carport was noted along with a visual report of the tornado. As the tornado tracked northeast to Wise County Road 4287, it produced structural damage to multiple homes. The tornado tracked northeast approximately 5 miles, producing damage to several homes and outbuildings. The tornado ultimately moved over US 287 southeast of Decatur, damaging a large advertising sign along the highway and impacting a storage building near US 287 and FM 2264. The tornado apparently dissipated shortly after crossing US 287. Maximum estimated winds were 85 mph.

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

6 minutes of warning. NWS FWD issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:41 UTC, 6 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:30 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 20:15 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 0.10 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), 71 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:45 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.