Home / Texas / Harris

EF1 tornado in Harris County, Texas

Tornado April 10, 2024 · Harris County, Texas

EF1

Rating

1.7 mi

Path length

300 yd

Path width

$500K

Damage as recorded

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 300 yards (0.17 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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

A tornado initially touched down near or over Mason Road and immediately produced winds of approximately 90 mph as it destroyed a Firestone commercial building and significantly damaged the commercial strip mall in the vicinity (EF1). The building room and southern outer wall appeared to fail when tornadic winds blew out the west facing windows in the lobby. A large commercial AC unit was thrown from south to north into the parking lot, with the Firestone building and majority of debris pushed more east to west. After leaving the touchdown point, the circulation then broadened and weakened to EF0 after it moved another 1.5 miles or so through the adjacent neighborhood to the east. Many trees were damaged (large limbs and some uprooting). There was only minor structural damage outside of that caused by downed trees and branches. Winds were generally 65 to 75 mph across this track.

The wider storm

Late night through early morning severe thunderstorms moved eastward across the area and produced hail, strong winds and some tornadoes.

Began near Delhi (29.7716, -95.7524).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1177728. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.