EF3 Tornado — Bowie, Texas

2022-11-04 · near Bassett, Bowie, Texas

Event narrative

The supercell thunderstorm which produced a second tornado ending in northwestern Cass County continued on to the northeast and produced another tornado just north of the Sulphur River in southwestern Bowie County. This tornado was determined to be the strongest one produced by this particular thunderstorm and generated a few spots of low end EF-3 damage in several locations along its nearly 16-mile long path, with estimated maximum winds near 140 mph. This tornado first touched down along U.S. Highway 67 to the southwest of Simms and quickly grew in strength and width after tracking a few miles, briefing reaching a width of nearly a half mile at times. Just west of Simms and continuing northeast just past FM-561, the tornado produced many instances of EF-2 damage to both trees and structures. As the tornado crossed FM-561, there were several structures, a few well built, which had roofs and many walls removed, with 140 mph winds estimated here which were just inside the EF-3 threshold. Additionally, near this structural damage, there was a small section of asphalt road removed from FM-561 and the road debris was thrown into one residence. From there, the tornado then tracked northeast nearly four miles through very rural and uninhabited areas west of Texas Highway 98. The tornado finally moved back over Highway 98 and produced another area of considerable damage at the intersection of Highway 98 and CR-1840. In this area, several structures were largely destroyed, including a few small retail buildings, and this again garnered some high end EF-2 and low end EF-3 ratings with no injuries. After this point, the tornado travelled its final seven miles by crossing the southwestern, then western, and then northern portions of the city of New Boston, before ending just west of Highway 8 north of Interstate 30. Damage to structures and trees in these areas was mostly EF-1 caliber, although considerable damage to one or two well-built homes on the western side of New Boston did warrant an EF-2 damage rating.

Wider weather episode

A strong upper level trough progressed through the Rockies and into the Central and Southern Plains during the day on November 4th, enhancing strong surface low development over the Upper Red River Valley into Oklahoma. This produced a strong pressure gradient over the Southern Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley, allowing for very rich Gulf moisture to surge north across the Ark-La-Tex area into Eastern Oklahoma and much of Arkansas. This generated moderate instability across these areas during the afternoon, as temperatures rose into the lower to mid 80s. Very strong wind shear was also in place over these areas, with the upper trough reinforcing a cold front southeast into Southeast Oklahoma, Western Arkansas, and East Texas. This trough enhanced large scale forcing along the front, with discrete supercell development also occurring ahead of the main line of storms over portions of East Texas, Southeast Oklahoma, and Southwest Arkansas. Multiple tornadoes, some strong, touched down across these areas, with additional instances of damaging winds also reported before the line of storms overtook these discrete supercells and shifted east across the remainder of East Texas, Southwest Arkansas, and into North Louisiana during the evening and overnight hours.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.3163, -94.5625)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1063564. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.