EF0 tornado, San Antonio to Olmos Park, Texas, October 26, 2023

1. EF065 to 85 mphthis tornado

   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. 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

EF0

Date

October 26, 2023

Touchdown

8:01 AM CDT (13:01 UTC)

Lifted

8:18 AM CDT (13:18 UTC)

On the ground

17 minutes

Path length

5.2 miles (8.3 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Crop damage

$250,000

County

Bexar County

Touchdown point

29.419, -98.469

Lift-off point

29.490, -98.442

Record number

2310260701-01

Thunderstorms developed along an outflow boundary in a very moist airmass. Storms were fed by strong low level winds. In addition to aiding buoyancy, these winds also contributed to significant low level wind shear. Some storms produced weak tornadoes and locally heavy rain that led to flash flooding.

A National Weather Service damage survey concluded an EF-0 tornado started near the south end of the Masonic Cemetery off of E. Commerce St. in San Antonio. Several trees were damaged in the cemetery between E. Commerce and E. Crockett St., and a fence was damaged at the tennis courts in Fairchild Park. As the track headed north-northeast, there was sporadic, very minor tree damage in the neighborhood, and a couple metal roof panels were lifted off an old structure in the railyard just west of N. New Braunfels Ave. The damage path was more notable within Ft. Sam Houston. Several trampolines were lofted, part of the roof was damaged on a building near the south end of the Fort, and significant tree damage was observed throughout the Fort property up to near Old Austin Rd. After that point, damage was again more sporadic and the tornado may have briefly lifted through much of Terrell Hills until reaching the Alcove Apartments on N. Vandiver Rd. Roof damage was noted to the northern building there, as well as damage to the Southwest Preparatory school across Seidel Rd. Security camera footage showed a small circulation crossing at Austin Hwy and N. Vandiver Rd. at 7:18 am, and though it is possible that additional sporadic damage occurred northeast of here, the survey team was unable to find any notable damage north of Austin Hwy. The path length was 5.17 miles, and maximum winds were estimated at 80 mph.

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.

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 General Thunderstorms Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 12:38 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.

San Antonio (SAT), 8 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 50 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 12:59 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.