EF1 tornado, Punkin Center to Sparenburg, Texas, May 29, 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

May 29, 2025

Touchdown

6:09 PM CDT (23:09 UTC)

Lifted

6:24 PM CDT (23:24 UTC)

On the ground

15 minutes

Path length

6.8 miles (11.0 km)

Path width

100 yards (91 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$3,000

County

Dawson County

Touchdown point

32.836, -102.082

Lift-off point

32.770, -102.000

Record number

2505291709-01

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

• The radar-estimated location of the end of this tornado.
• There were reports of damage to signs, power poles, and trees in the town of Lamesa. Time is estimated from radar.
• A metal irrigation spool was thrown 20 yards towards the south-southeast. Spool weighs approximately 200 lbs. Time is estimated from radar.
• The awning over the front porch of a house was lifted off, causing roof damage. The awning was then thrown towards the south. Time is estimated from radar.

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

A disturbance in the quasi-zonal/northwesterly flow aloft, a dryline, and a cold front moving across the northern Permian Basin allowed for the development of scattered thunderstorms across Southeast New Mexico and West Texas. Thunderstorm coverage continued to increase into the afternoon and evening, and a number of storms became severe. The strongest storm of the day was in Dawson and Howard counties. This storm latched onto the stationary boundary and produced two brief EF-1 tornadoes in Dawson County as well as damaging straight line winds and large hail. Other thunderstorms also produced large hail and damaging winds, and a landspout was reported near Loving, New Mexico.

A dusty tornado was reported west of Highway 137, northwest of Lamesa. Damage was surveyed at a home, with the awning and trees being damaged. This tornado had an estimated wind speed of 100 MPH and was rated EF-1. Open fields along the estimated tornado path limited the details of the tornado track. The tornado track and time of occurrence is radar estimated. The cost of damages is also estimated.

This was the estimated path of a brief tornado in the vicinity of Sparenberg to the southeast of Lamesa. Irrigation pivots were found lying towards the southeast. This was estimated to have been due to wind speeds of approximately 90 MPH. This tornado is rated EF-1. Open dirt fields in the vicinity did not allow for further survey damage. The time of occurrence is radar estimated. The cost of damages is also estimated.

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

17 minutes of warning. NWS MAF issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:52 UTC, 17 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:30 UTC.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:50 UTC and running to 03:17 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 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 20:05 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 Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 97 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:08 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

5 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.