EF0 tornado, Cottondale, Texas, April 28, 2026

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, as surveyed

EF0, preliminary

Date

April 28, 2026

Touchdown

4:33 PM CDT (21:33 UTC)

Lifted

4:35 PM CDT (21:35 UTC)

On the ground

2 minutes

Path length

1.6 miles (2.5 km)

Path width

250 yards (229 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

County

Wise County

Touchdown point

33.085, -97.707

Lift-off point

33.067, -97.698

Highest wind the damage implies

80 mph

Surveyed by

NWS FWD

Survey last edited

May 15, 2026

Record number

None yet. SPC numbers 2026 in the spring of 2027.

A tornado formed near the intersection of Spring Valley Road and Wise County Road 3355. This tornado initially moved south, producing scattered tree, shingle and outbuilding roof damage consistent with high end EF-0 winds. The tornado crossed FM 2123, just east of its intersection with Wise County Road 3355 in the Cottondale community, and dissipated shortly thereafter.

Written by NWS FWD in the NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit. A survey is revised as better evidence arrives.

A shortwave trough, slow moving cold front, and continued presence of a dryline resulted in additional severe thunderstorm development on April 28 and 29. Large hail was the primary severe weather occurrence. Destructive hail damaged several locations in North and Central Texas with hail sizes ranging up to 3.5-4 inch hail in Johnson County. On April 28th 4 tornadoes occurred including an EF-3 tornado in Mineral Wells.

A tornado formed near the intersection of Spring Valley Road and Wise County Road 3355. This tornado initially moved south, producing scattered tree, shingle, and outbuilding roof damage consistent with high end EF-0 winds. The tornado crossed FM 2123, just east of its intersection with Wise County Road 3355 in the Cottondale community, and dissipated shortly thereafter. Maximum estimated winds were 80 mph.

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

3 minutes of warning. NWS FWD issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:30 UTC, 3 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 22:00 UTC.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 18:10 UTC and running to 23:17 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 Moderate Risk, with a 0.05 chance of a tornado within 25 miles, in the hatched area where significant tornadoes were expected. The outlook in force was issued at 20:00 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 Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 67 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 21:30 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 2026 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

15 more have been surveyed in the United States that day, so far.

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. A survey can be revised, so the rating, the path and the casualties can all still change.

NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit, the record the survey teams file from the damage, and NOAA Storm Prediction Center storm reports. Neither is the official database for 2026, which SPC publishes in the spring of 2027.