EF1 tornado, Hodgson to New Boston, Texas, March 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 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

March 4, 2025

Touchdown

7:51 AM CST (13:51 UTC)

Lifted

8:09 AM CST (14:09 UTC)

On the ground

18 minutes

Path length

18.9 miles (30.4 km)

Path width

580 yards (530 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$500,000

County

Bowie County

Touchdown point

33.340, -94.707

Lift-off point

33.453, -94.409

Record number

2503040751-01

60 damage points were recorded along this path by NWS SHV, in the Damage Assessment Toolkit the survey teams carry. The strongest indicator was rated EF1. The highest wind the damage implies is 110 mph.

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

A very mature squall line developed along and ahead of an advancing cold front across the Ark-La-Tex region during the mid to late morning into early afternoon on March 4th. Damaging wind gusts were the primary threat with this squall line, but numerous strong mesovorticies became embedded within this quasi-linear convective system (QLCS). Dew points were in the mid to upper 60s with over 500 J/kg of MLCAPE and 450 m2/s2 of 0-1 km storm relative helicity (SRH). As temperatures continued to warm into the lower 70s with MLCAPE increasing to around 1000 J/kg MLCAPE, the increasing threat of supercell thunderstorm development only heightened the tornado threat. As a result, numerous reports of damaging straight-line wind gusts and several tornadoes were documented across East and Northeast Texas.

This EF1 tornado was the continuation of a tornado that began in Red River County. Upon exiting Red River County, the tornado continued east toward the town of New Hope, continuing to produce extensive tree damage in the form of snapped trunks and uproots. After moving east of New Hope, the tornado followed along County Road 4303 toward Hubbard, eventually crossing Farm-to-Market Road 1840 before heading toward the town of Malta. The tornado crossed U.S. Highway 82 near Malta and continued east northeast for a few more miles, before eventually lifting near the intersection of County Road 3014 and FM Road 3378. The tornado tracked nearly 17 miles across western and northwestern parts of Bowie County with a maximum width of 850 yards and estimated peak wind speeds of 100 mph.

This QLCS-embedded EF1 tornado began along U.S. Highway 259 in southwest Bowie County and moved east northeast across County Road 4307, Interstate 30, County Road 4210, County Road 4230, and Farm-to-Market Road 561, damaging numerous trees. Most of the trees were either uprooted or snapped with several large limbs being downed on power lines. As the tornado continued northeast, it removed most of the metal roof covering from a house at the intersection County Road 4206 and County Road 4204. More tree damage was noted as the tornado crossed County Road 990, County Road 4121, County Road 4122, and County Road 4120. More tree damage occurred along Highway 98, County Road 4015, County Road 4011, and County Road 4116. At the Barry B. Telford Unit, a large metal building system on the southeast side of the prison property was destroyed when the metal frame was pulled free from its anchors. Three camper trailers in the prison's RV park were overturned and destroyed. The tornado continued northeast, breaking more large softwood limbs along FM Road 1840 and Highway 8 in the southern portion of New Boston where it finally lifted. The tornado had a maximum width of 580 yards and tracked nearly 19 miles.

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

9 minutes of warning. NWS SHV issued a tornado warning for this county at 13:42 UTC, 9 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 14:15 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 10:17 UTC and running to 16:09 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. The outlook in force was issued at 12:57 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 Shreveport radar (KSHV), 125 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 13:53 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

36 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.