EF1 Tornado — Henderson, Texas

2024-05-23 · near Fincastle, Henderson, Texas

Event narrative

An EF-1 tornado with estimated maximum winds near 105 mph touched down near an inlet area of Lake Palestine west of Boles Road just southwest of Coffee City. This tornado largely stayed over the water as a waterspout, and it briefly came ashore across the Lake Palestine Resort just west of Highway 155. Numerous trees were snapped and uprooted at the resort, with several RV's flipped over, and multiple metal canopies at the marina completely collapsed. This tornado then moved back over water as a waterspout again as it shifted north-northeast, before moving ashore again across a small neighborhood behind the Lake Palestine Motor Inn. Numerous trees were snapped and uprooted, with at least one large hardwood tree having fallen onto a two story home. The tornado then crossed FM 3506 and into the Briarwood Bay subdivision, where numerous trees were snapped and uprooted (DI 27, DOD 4). It was here where the tornado was strongest and widest (480 yards), before weakening and narrowing as it moved across the northern end of the subdivision along the lake. The tornado then moved back over water again as a waterspout, crossing into Smith County at 709 pm CDT. A total of 6 injuries occurred with this tornado, but only 2 people needed transport to the local hospital. Information on the damage in Smith County can be found in a Storm Data separate entry. In Henderson County, this tornado was rated an EF-1 with maximum winds of 105 mph, and tracked for 2.69 miles before crossing into Smith County.

Wider weather episode

With a highly unstable airmass in place, a meandering front, a dryline, and a shortwave trough all worked together to generate multiple rounds of thunderstorms May 23 and 24. In addition to large hail and damaging winds, multiple tornadoes also occurred along with a few instances of flash flooding. A total of 6 tornadoes occurred in Central and East Texas: 2 EF-1s, 3 EF-0s, and 1 EF-U.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.1194, -95.5007)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1182246. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.