EF1 tornado, Liggett to Sowers, Texas, March 16, 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 mphthis tornado

   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

EF1

Date

March 16, 2023

Touchdown

4:52 PM CDT (21:52 UTC)

Lifted

4:56 PM CDT (21:56 UTC)

On the ground

4 minutes

Path length

0.7 miles (1.1 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Dallas County

Touchdown point

32.837, -96.959

Lift-off point

32.845, -96.951

Record number

2303161552-01

28 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 110 mph.

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

Thunderstorms developed along a dryline, and eventually a Pacific cold front, the afternoon of Thursday March 16. Large hail, damaging winds, and a three EF-1 tornadoes all occurred in some of these storms as they pushed east and southeast across the region that evening. Activity exited to the east and south by midnight that night.

A tornado formed in the extreme northern portions of the City of Grand Prairie, in a distribution facility area near West Trinity Boulevard and Trinity Ridge Drive. A section of roofing was peeled off of a warehouse in this area, and scattered tree damage was evident due to EF-0 winds of 65-80 mph. The tornado moved southeast, then east and entered the southern portion of the City of Irving, where an apartment building was impacted along Shady Grove Road just east of Beltline Road. Roof damage at this apartment complex was consistent with maximum EF-1 windspeeds of 105 mph. The tornado continued east, roughly paralleling Shady Grove Road and producing tree and light shingle damage consistent with EF-0 windspeeds. The track continued eastward through Irving neighborhoods, crossing MacArthur Boulevard, with intermittent tree damage. The tornado produced some light structural damage to a discount store and adjacent city building near Nursery Road and East 6th Street, then dissipated shortly thereafter.

A brief tornado formed in the central portion of the City of Irving, near the intersection of MacArthur Boulevard and State Highway 183. Near this formation point, an auto dealership sustained damage to the roof and front facade of the main showroom building. An adjacent power pole was also pushed over. Damage at this dealership was consistent with low end EF-1 intensity windspeeds of approximately 105 mph. The tornado moved northeast through adjacent apartment complexes and residential areas, producing tree damage and occasional roof damage consistent with 65-80 mph winds. The tornado dissipated near the intersection of Rochelle Road and O'Conner Road.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:37 UTC and running to 01:00 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 19:24 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.

Dallas/Love Field (DAL), 10 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), 44 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:54 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

4 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.