EF1 tornado, Cypress to Harvard, 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

7:15 AM CST (13:15 UTC)

Lifted

7:35 AM CST (13:35 UTC)

On the ground

20 minutes

Path length

18.4 miles (29.7 km)

Path width

858 yards (785 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

3

Property damage

$500,000

Counties

Franklin and Camp counties

Touchdown point

33.003, -95.274

Lift-off point

33.068, -94.965

Record number

2503040715-01

78 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 105 mph.

• Dead horse in field across highway

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 with estimated maximum winds near 104 mph developed within a QLCS and began along Highway 37 just north of Winnsboro in southwest Franklin County where it snapped and uprooted several trees. The tornado continued east along Farm-to-Market Road 3357, County Road 3430, and County Road 4340 and continued snapping and uprooting numerous trees as it crossed County Road 4335, County Road 4345, and began to move along FM Road 1448. Tree damage became more extensive as it approached the intersection of FM Road 1448 and FM Road 115. At this location, most of the metal roof panels were removed from a|South Franklin Fire Department building. Farther east, two homes in the New Hope community were damaged. One house lost almost all of the upwind portion of its roof when the section overhanging a porch was uplifted. A manufactured home also lost a portion of its roof, causing part of a wall failure. Two residents were in this part of the manufactured home at the time but were uninjured. Metal roof panels on a neighboring outbuilding were also peeled back and twisted. Farther north, a church on County Road|4395 lost some of its roof. More softwood trees were snapped and uprooted along County Road 4396 before the tornado moved over Lake Bob Sandlin and crossed into Camp County. The tornado tracked just over 10 miles in southern Franklin County.

This EF1 tornado was the continuation of a tornado that began in Franklin County. At this point, damage was difficult to locate as the tornado skirted the southern shore of Lake Bob Sandlin. Some tree damage indicative of a tornado was found along County Road 2417 and along Farm-to-Market Road 21. Move extensive tree damage was found beginning at County Road 2332, County Road 2330, and within the Thunderbird community just south of Lake Bob Sandlin. As the tornado continued east and moved along FM 1520, several structures were damaged at a fishing and recreational vehicle|campground. One outbuilding used as a cabin that was sitting on wooden beams and cinder blocks was blown away and destroyed. The cabin was blown into a neighboring RV, which was then overturned. Another RV was also overturned in this campground. Three injuries occurred to occupants of the RV campers. The tornado then crossed a cove of Lake Bob Sandlin, and damage started to become much more sporadic. More hardwood and softwood trees were snapped just north of Highway 255 and again just west of U.S. Highway 271 south of the Camp/Titus County Line where the tornado finally lifted. The tornado tracked nearly 8 miles across northern Camp County.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

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.

Mount Pleasant Airport (OSA), 16 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

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

The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 136 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 13:17 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.