Unrated tornado, Afton to Dickens, Texas, June 21, 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 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. Unratedthis tornado

   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

Unrated

Date

June 21, 2023

Touchdown

9:18 PM CDT (02:18 UTC)

Lifted

9:19 PM CDT (02:19 UTC)

On the ground

1 minutes

Path length

0.3 miles (0.6 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Dickens County

Touchdown point

33.620, -100.720

Lift-off point

33.615, -100.718

Record number

2306212018-01

A supercell thunderstorm developed in the far southern Texas Panhandle during the late afternoon of the 21st of June. This supercell moved south-southeastward through the western Rolling Plains during the evening and eventually moved into the Texas Big Country and the San Angelo National Weather Service forecast area around 2200 CST. This storm quickly intensified in Motley County just north of Matador where the first of five reported tornadoes occurred around 1850 CST, however no survey was conducted as no damage was reported. This storm then produced a third of a mile wide tornado that went through the west side of Matador around 1900 CST killing four people and injuring 15 others. One of the fatalities was an 85 year old woman at home. A 59 year old truck driver died while in his semi-trailer. The final two fatalities were a 43 year old male and 23 year old male in a recreational vehicle. Peak wind gusts corresponding to the observed damage were estimated to be in the 145 mph to 165 mph range, resulting in an EF-3 rating. This rating was determined through consultation with engineers from the Texas Tech University National Wind Institute, who also performed a damage survey in Matador. It also produced extremely large hail with the largest stone measuring 4.50 inches in diameter on the east side of Matador. The storm continued moving to the south-southeast where a 75 mph gust was reported at the Roaring Springs West Texas Mesonet site at 1922 CST, most likely associated with a rear flank downdraft surge. As it entered northern Dickens County another tornado was reported by an off-duty NWS employee approximately 5.5 miles northeast of Afton, however no damage was reported with this tornado. A second supercell produced a brief tornado west-southwest of Matador at 1937 CST that also produced no known damage. Shortly afterward, that supercell began to merge with the initial supercell with the fifth and final tornado being reported on US Highway 82 approximately eight miles east of Dickens and no damage was observed with this tornado either. As the storm continued to move to the south-southeast a broad rear flank downdraft was noted on radar with the peak measured gust of 109 mph at the West Texas Mesonet site in Jayton at 2107 CST with 19 minutes of continuous severe wind gusts. These strong winds also occurred with hail up to four inches in diameter leading to damage observed along State Highway 70 in northeast Kent County including in and around the towns of Girard and Jayton.

The third of several tornadoes occurred in northern Dickens County. An off-duty NWS employee relayed photos of a tornado over open country. No known damage occurred.

The fifth and final of several tornadoes occurred just east of Dickens. A storm chaser reported a tornado crossing US Highway 82. No known damage occurred.

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

23 minutes of warning. NWS LUB issued a tornado warning for this county at 01:55 UTC, 23 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 00:00 UTC and running to 05:00 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:00 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 Lubbock radar (KLBB), 101 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 02:19 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

44 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.