EF1 tornado, Erath to Tours, Texas, April 26, 2024

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

April 26, 2024

Touchdown

12:26 PM CDT (17:26 UTC)

Lifted

12:29 PM CDT (17:29 UTC)

On the ground

3 minutes

Path length

0.9 miles (1.4 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$200,000

County

McLennan County

Touchdown point

31.632, -97.252

Lift-off point

31.640, -97.241

Record number

2404261126-01

3 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 96 mph.

• Large tree limbs and fences down. Shingles and back patios all okay. Very narrow track.
• Entire front of roof decking was peeled off leaving holes
• 2x4s went through house in 2 locations. Fences down. Lightweight back yard objects moved. All backside of this row of houses

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

A shortwave trough, dryline, and Pacific front all worked together to produce multiple rounds of thunderstorms Friday April 26 through Sunday April 28. All modes of severe weather took place across the region, along with multiple instances of flash flooding. 11 tornadoes occurred across McLennan, Hill, and Navarro counties on April 26th, and another 4 tornadoes occurred in Milam, Limestone and Freestone counties on April 28th.

A brief EF-0 tornado occurred along Wisdom Ct west of Waco. Fences were damaged and large tree limbs were broken. Maximum estimated winds were 80 mph.

A second tornado from the same supercell occurred west of Waco damaging neighborhoods on either side of Wortham Bend Road near China Spring Rd. Damage in these neighborhoods consisted of damaged trees, downed fences, broken windows, and mostly minor roof damage. One home lost most of the front part of its roof, and a few homes were impaled with flying fence panels. Maximum estimated winds were 95 mph.

A tornado developed north of Tours, just west of Berger Road. This tornado initially damaged trees and a shed, but strengthened as it crossed Czech Hall Road. The tornado hit a property on County Line Road causing EF-2 damage to a barn and a shop on the property. The tornado scattered heavy farm material into the field to the east. The tornado continued into Hill County crossing CR 3238 where an eye witness reported it dissipated before developing the next tornado. Maximum estimated winds were 110 to 115 mph.

A brief, weak tornado damaged trees west of Heritage Pkwy and south of Easy Rd northwest of Tours. Maximum estimated winds were 75 mph.

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

22 minutes of warning. NWS FWD issued a tornado warning for this county at 17:04 UTC, 22 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 17:45 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 15:12 UTC and running to 23:00 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 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 16:42 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 Ft Hood radar (KGRK), 102 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 17:28 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 2024 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

77 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 78 of them

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.