EF0 tornado, Dot to Harmony, 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

6:14 PM CDT (23:14 UTC)

Lifted

6:50 PM CDT (23:50 UTC)

On the ground

36 minutes

Path length

16.0 miles (25.7 km)

Path width

300 yards (274 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Counties

Falls and Limestone counties

Touchdown point

31.227, -96.849

Lift-off point

31.306, -96.601

Record number

2405231714-01

55 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS FWD, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF0. The highest wind the damage implies is 85 mph.

• Numerous trees blown down in this treeline per satellite imagery
• 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 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.

This is a continuation of a tornado that formed near Reagan in Falls County. The tornado entered Limestone County at 642 pm CDT and crossed 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 Limestone County with maximum estimated winds of 85 mph. It traveled about 2.79 miles in Limestone County before dissipating.

A third tornado was spawned by the same supercell moving across Falls and Limestone counties. This tornado formed southeast of Kosse in extreme southwest Limestone County. Scattered large tree limbs were snapped along State Highway 7 as the tornado moved eastward into northern Robertson County near Willow Creek. This tornado was rated an EF-0 with maximum estimated winds were 85 mph. It traveled approximately 3.41 miles before moving into Robertson County at 728 pm CDT.

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

46 minutes of warning. NWS FWD issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:28 UTC, 46 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 22:55 UTC and running to 01:50 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.

The Ft Hood radar (KGRK), 87 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:13 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.