Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2024

EF1 tornado, Bellville, Texas, June 19, 2024

This EF1 tornado ran 1.9 miles across Austin County on June 19, 2024, touching down at 5:25 PM CDT and reaching 100 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $300,000 of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Enhanced Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  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.

The record

Rating
EF1
Date
June 19, 2024
Touchdown
5:25 PM CDT (22:25 UTC)
Lifted
5:27 PM CDT (22:27 UTC)
On the ground
2 minutes
Path length
1.9 miles (3.1 km)
Path width
100 yards (91 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$300,000
County
Austin County
Touchdown point
29.970, -96.283
Lift-off point
29.956, -96.310
Record number
2406191625-01

What the Weather Service recorded

A late afternoon tornado occurred just outside of the Bellville area.

This tornado touched down northwest of Bellville near SH 36 then tracked along and across Koy Road. The path then crossed SH 159 near Koy Road. Numerous hardwood trees were snapped or uprooted . There was damage to one business where the metal roof was removed. At least two homes sustained damage from high winds, tree and debris impacts.

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

The warnings

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 forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Marginal Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:49 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 air that afternoon

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.

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), 12:00Z

10.4 hours before the tornado, 268 km from the path. June 19, 2024.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Corpus Christi, TX at 12:00Z on 2024-06-19Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 57 joules per kilogram, CIN -50, lifted condensation level 647 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Corpus Christi, TX at 12:00Z on 2024-06-19The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -37 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 15 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
57 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-50 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2399 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
647 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
15 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
18 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-37 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-22 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
5.7 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Corpus Christi, TX (KCRP), 00:00Z

1.6 hours after it, 268 km from the path. June 20, 2024.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Corpus Christi, TX at 00:00Z on 2024-06-20Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1715 joules per kilogram, CIN 0, lifted condensation level 487 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Corpus Christi, TX at 00:00Z on 2024-06-20The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 152 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 26 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1715 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
0 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3232 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
487 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
26 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
22 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
152 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
300 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.2
Supercell composite
10.5
0-3 km lapse rate
5.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Brenham_municipal_apt (11R), 29 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
20:35 UTC79.77720° 6 kt-RA
20:55 UTC79.376.620° 7 ktRA
21:15 UTC79.377360° 10 kt15-RA
21:35 UTC8077360° 11 kt15-DZ
21:55 UTC807710° 10 kt
22:15 UTC80.277360° 11 kt15-RA
22:35 UTC80.27710° 10 kt16+RA
22:55 UTC79.777360° 13 kt+RA
23:15 UTC79.77720° 9 kt18+RA
23:35 UTC79.37770° 6 ktRA
23:55 UTC7977360° 9 kt+RA
00:15 UTC

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

The radar

The Houston radar (KHGX), 130 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:27 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
22:25 UTCTORNADO2 Nw BellvilleAustin, TXEF1 tornado occurred near Bellville, TX. Estimated peak winds at 100 mph with a path length of 1.90 miles and a width of 100 yards.

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2024 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 19, 2024

2 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 196:43 PM CDTEF0Aransas, TX0.240$25,000
June 196:49 PM CDTEF0Aransas, TX0.350$5,000

What this means

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.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.