EF2 tornado, Orangefield Arpt to Buhler, Texas, January 24, 2023

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

January 24, 2023

Touchdown

4:28 PM CST (22:28 UTC)

Lifted

4:55 PM CST (22:55 UTC)

On the ground

27 minutes

Path length

25.2 miles (40.6 km)

Path width

500 yards (457 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

Property damage

$1.3 million

Counties

Orange and Calcasieu counties

Touchdown point

30.074, -93.892

Lift-off point

30.283, -93.546

Record number

2301241628-01

36 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS LCH, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF2. The highest wind the damage implies is 120 mph.

• Tornado crossed Holbrook Road
• Starting point of Gaytine Tornado
• A few pine trees snapped as the tornado crossed Navajo Trail Road.
• Tree damage as the tornado crossed Wright Road.

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

A vigorous storm system moved across the region spawning high wind gusts and a pair of tornadoes in deep southeast Texas.

A vigorous storm system moved across the region during the 24th spawning flooding, high wind gusts, and tornadoes.

A brief tornado developed over the Bessie Heights Marsh producing damage to trees and roofs from Nora Circle across Round Bunch Road, Edgar Drive to Turner Road. The tornado damaged electrical transmission lines as it weakened before Bessie Heights Road. Max estimated winds were 100 mph.

The Orange-Calcasieu Tornado touched down near Orangefield Road and quickly produced EF-2 damage a few blocks northwest of Orangefield High School. This area sustained the most severe damage from this tornado, where winds were estimated to max out at 120 mph. Numerous homes were either heavily damaged or destroyed. The tornado then crossed over Cow Bayou, and produced mostly EF-1 damage through the rest of Orange County. The tornado crossed the Sabine River over a section of West Bluff Road. A marine survey revealed that the tornado did remain continuous across the Sabine River Swamp area.

This tornado is a continuation from the Orange Tornado. The tornado crossed the Sabine River near a section of West Bluff Road and the Sabine River Swamp area eventually impacting the Niblett's Bluff Park in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. The tornado gained strength once again, destroying homes, RVs, and other outbuildings along Wright Road. The tornado then produced mostly EF1 damage through the remainder of it's path into the Sabine River Diversion System, and the Big Woods area. |The tornado finally lifted near Woods Loop Road just north of it's intersection with Navaho Trail. Max estimated winds were 120 mph.

The Gum Slough Tornado touched down just south of Line Road, and merged with the Nibletts Bluff Tornado. Trees were damaged while sections of roofs were taken off of a mobile home and an outbuilding.

An EF-2 tornado touched down near near Perkins Pipeline Road and tracked northeast for 12 miles through northern Calcasieu Parish and into southeast Beauregard Parish. Only 4 miles were in Calcasieu Parish and the tornado only damaged trees and power lines before tracking into Beauregard Parish. Max estimated winds were 125 mph.

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

11 minutes of warning. NWS LCH issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:17 UTC, 11 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 16:49 UTC and running to 00:00 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 Enhanced Risk, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:51 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 Lake Charles radar (KLCH), 49 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:28 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 2023 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

13 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.