EF3 Perryton tornado, Texas, June 15, 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 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

June 15, 2023

Touchdown

5:06 PM CDT (22:06 UTC)

Lifted

5:17 PM CDT (22:17 UTC)

On the ground

11 minutes

Path length

6.3 miles (10.2 km)

Path width

880 yards (805 m)

Deaths

3

Injuries

100

Property damage

$1.0 million

County

Ochiltree County

Touchdown point

36.413, -100.830

Lift-off point

36.373, -100.728

Record number

2306151606-02

106 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS AMA, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF3. The highest wind the damage implies is 140 mph.

• At least 6 broken power poles
• Lots of windows broken out.Debris piled up outside.
• Newer building damaged less than nearby older ones
• Fire/EMS building. Similar to automobile shop in construction.

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

During the evening of the 15th a line of storms, of which contained supercells, formed over portions of southwest Kansas and extend south through Beaver County, OK into the northeastern portions of the Texas Panhandle. The supercell furthest south dropped a tornado on Perryton, TX killing three people and leaving a path of distruction over 6 miles. Several other landspout tornadoes spun up further south of Perryton along the flanking line of the tornadic supercell. One of these landpouts took out some power poles, but remained mostly in grasslands. These tornadic supercells also produced large hail between 1 and 2.5 in diameter.

The tornado touched down to the northwest of Perryton and crossed|Highway 143. It entered town, where it caused significant damage|to a mobile home community. Dozens of mobile homes were|completely destroyed. It continued into downtown and caused|structural damage to several downtown shops, some with collapsed|walls. A microwave tower was also folded in half. The tornado|intensified and caused low end EF3 damage to a few retail stores|in downtown and along Ash Street, some of which were completely destroyed. |As the tornado continued to the southeast across Birch and Cedar |Streets, it damaged numerous mobile homes and single family structures, |continuing as an EF2 in this area. A cell phone tower was also brought |down, which resulted in telecommunication outages. The tornado affected an|industrial park area where it tossed several empty fuel tanks|across Texas 143 Loop and into a field. It also pushed a full tanker|truck into a pond along Loop 143. The tornado then crossed a|field, before damaging a grain bin and downing about ten power|poles along Highway 377. It crossed Highway 377 and lifted in an|open field before it reached County Road 20.

The deaths

3 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.

0 minutes of warning. NWS AMA issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:06 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 19:36 UTC and running to 00:13 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 19:57 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.

Perryton/Ochiltree County Apt (PYX), 3 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 154 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:06 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

31 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.