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EF2 tornado in Houston County, Texas

Tornado March 21, 2022 · Houston County, Texas

EF2

Rating

19.1 mi

Path length

200 yd

Path width

Death

Injuries

$5.0M

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This EF2 tornado was flown by emergency management and noted a continuous damage track from the first point along Highway 21 until the final point north of Crockett. There were ten total injuries including three serious ones at a pair of mobile homes with occupants thrown into an adjacent field. At least 30 structures were severely damaged.

The wider storm

Discrete supercell thunderstorms developed ahead of an advancing cold front on the night of March 20, producing strong wind gusts, hail, and tornadoes. Later, a squall line formed along the front itself as it moved through SE TX, resulting in additional straight line wind and tornado damage across the area.

Began near Mapleton (31.1346, -95.6750).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

6 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF1 Brazos County EF1 Madison County EF0 Burleson County EF0 Burleson County EF0 Brazoria County EF0 Fort Bend County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1008077. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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