EF0 tornado, Belvins to Denny, Texas, May 23, 2024

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

May 23, 2024

Touchdown

5:47 PM CDT (22:47 UTC)

Lifted

6:10 PM CDT (23:10 UTC)

On the ground

23 minutes

Path length

18.5 miles (29.8 km)

Path width

400 yards (366 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$500

County

Falls County

Touchdown point

31.260, -97.093

Lift-off point

31.326, -96.806

Record number

2405231647-01

59 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS FWD, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EFU. The highest wind the damage implies is 100 mph.

• Numerous trees blown down in this treeline per satellite imagery
• Shed completely destroyed on satellite imagery
• Brief tornado touchdown viewed by NWS meteorologists. Location approximate and based on radar.
• NWS meteorologists viewed two trees blown down onto Highway 14 with highway partially blocked.

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

With a highly unstable airmass in place, a meandering front, a dryline, and a shortwave trough all worked together to generate multiple rounds of thunderstorms May 23 and 24. In addition to large hail and damaging winds, multiple tornadoes also occurred along with a few instances of flash flooding. A total of 6 tornadoes occurred in Central and East Texas: 2 EF-1s, 3 EF-0s, and 1 EF-U.

A tornado formed southeast of Eddy, TX, just south of State Highway 7, in Falls County. The tornado moved northward, causing scattered tree damage as it crossed Highway 7. Several homes and outbuildings sustained minor structural damage as the tornado paralleled Falls County Road 436. One manufactured home sustained EF-1 type damage (DI 2, DOD 7) near the county line with McLennan. The tornado traveled farther north, approximately half a mile inside the limits of McLennan County, dissipating before it reached Bruceville and Interstate 35. The tornado was rated an EF-1 in Falls County with maximum estimated winds of 100 mph. It traveled about 2.33 miles in Falls County before exiting the county around 532 pm CDT.

A tornado formed southwest of Chilton, TX, in Falls County. It moved northeast, crossing US 77 and producing scattered tree damage as it roughly paralleled State Highway 7 from near Chilton to the Brazos River bottomland southwest of Marlin. Scattered tree damage, mainly constituting the snapping of large hardwood limbs, occurred throughout Marlin and surrounding areas. The tornado dissipated just east of Marlin. This tornado was rated EF-0 with maximum estimated winds of 85 mph.

This tornado formed northwest of Reagan, just west of State Highway 6, and moved east-northeastward, producing scattered tree damage in the vicinity of Reagan. The tornado continued northeastward, roughly paralleling FM 413, eventually crossing State Highway 14 south of Kosse, just inside the southwest corner of Limestone County. Scattered tree damage occurred in and around Kosse. The tornado dissipated just past Highway 7 east of Kosse. The tornado was rated an EF-0 in Falls County with maximum estimated winds of 85 mph. It traveled about 13.17 miles in Falls County before exiting the county around 642 pm CDT.

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

19 minutes of warning. NWS FWD issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:28 UTC, 19 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:15 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 Slight Risk, with a 0.02 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 19:50 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.

Waco (CNW), 40 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Ft Hood radar (KGRK), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:47 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

26 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.