EF1 tornado, Corsicana Arpt, 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

7:58 PM CDT (00:58 UTC)

Lifted

8:04 PM CDT (01:04 UTC)

On the ground

6 minutes

Path length

2.8 miles (4.5 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

2

County

Navarro County

Touchdown point

32.132, -96.495

Lift-off point

32.118, -96.453

Record number

2303161858-01

13 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 95 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 on the northern outskirts of Corsicana in Navarro County, west of the intersection of County Road 0010 and County Road 0018. After producing tree damage in an open field, the tornado moved southeast and significantly damaged a single family residence near the intersection of County Road 0010 and County Road 0017 in far northern Corsicana. Sections of shingles and some wood roof sheathing were removed or damaged, and tree damage was substantial. Damage here was consistent with EF-1 winds of 95-100 mph. On an adjacent plot of land, a large trailer was rolled twice, resulting in the serious injury of two adult occupants. The track continued southeast, producing intermittent EF-0 intensity tree damage of 65-75 mph in north Corsicana. In its latter stages, the tornado veered east, crossing Business 45 and producing more significant tree damage before dissipating shortly before reaching Interstate 45.

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 23:18 UTC and running to 02:58 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.

Corsicana (CRS), 13 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), 92 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 01:00 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.