EF2 tornado, Lone Star to Jenkins, Texas, April 4, 2025

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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. EF2111 to 135 mphthis tornado

   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

EF2

Date

April 4, 2025

Touchdown

5:32 PM CDT (22:32 UTC)

Lifted

5:41 PM CDT (22:41 UTC)

On the ground

9 minutes

Path length

4.3 miles (6.9 km)

Path width

673 yards (615 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$750,000

County

Morris County

Touchdown point

32.922, -94.739

Lift-off point

32.969, -94.690

Record number

2504041632-01

38 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS SHV, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EFU. The highest wind the damage implies is 120 mph.

• 6 passenger vehicles tossed approx.100 yards
• Area was not accessible by ground, but KSHV WSR-88D displayed a continuous TDS. Planet satellite imagery NDVI analysis reveals the tornado track moved across this area.

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

A stationary front extended across portions of Northeast Texas and Southwest Arkansas during the early morning hours on April 4th, but lifted north into Southeast Oklahoma and Western Arkansas during the day. This was in response to an intensifying low level jet that developed ahead of a large upper trough that extended from the Intermountain West into the Plains, which provided the necessary lift across the very warm, moist, and unstable air mass in place south of this front across much of the region. As a result, numerous showers and thunderstorms developed across the area during the afternoon and evening, which produced damaging winds, large hail, and tornadoes. As these storms moved repeatedly over the same areas, flash flooding also became an issue across Northeast Texas and Southwest Arkansas through the 5th, where total rainfall amounts of 4-8 inches fell.

A EF-2 tornado with estimated maximum winds near 120 mph touched down along Sand Crossing Road/CR 4428 just north of Big Cypress Bayou, downing tree limbs and snapping a couple of softwood tree trunks. The tornado moved northeast, crossing CR 2225 and moved along or just west of CR 2223 on the western shore of Ellison Creek Reservoir. A large amount of tree damage consisting of snaps and uproots were observed. The tornado then strengthened to EF-2 intensity when it damaged three homes northeast of CR 2236. The most significant structural damage was to a house that had its garage door buckled, allowing the tornadic winds inside the home, which uplifted and removed most of the roof on the back of the house. Roof removal/collapse was also noted on a couple of boat docks in this vicinity. The tornado crossed Ellison Creek Reservoir and caused widespread tree damage at a church camp on the eastern shore between Camp Circle and Lacewood Drive. There was a concentrated area of dozens of very large pine trees that were snapped at a very consistent height. Six cars were rolled and thrown approximately 100 yards from a nearby church building into this area of concentrated tree damage. Approximately 120 people were in the building where the vehicles were parked. They received the Tornado Warning several minutes before the tornado struck and were able to take cover in a safe place. The tornado then moved northeast into a neighborhood and uprooted and snapped numerous trees. Dozens of homes sustained minor to major damage due to parts of trees or entire trees falling on them. The tornado crossed Highway 259, uprooted more trees, and caused minor roof damage to a home along Bunt Drive. It then crossed Forrest Hill Road and caused more tree damage along FM 3421 west of CR 2113. While the survey team was unable to locate additional damage due to limited road access, NDVI differencing of high-resolution imagery indicated that the tornado continued northeast and damaged more trees before lifting in a wooded area south of Ore Road and west of CR 2113.

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

4 minutes of warning. NWS SHV issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:28 UTC, 4 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:04 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 17:59 UTC and running to 01:55 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.15 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 19:59 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.

Mount Pleasant Airport (OSA), 28 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 98 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:34 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 2025 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

6 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.