EF2 tornado in Montague County, Texas

This is segment #1 of 4 of a multi-segmented EF-3 supercellular tornado that began in Montague County, crossed into Cooke County, Denton County, and then back into Cooke County. The tornado was ongoing for about an hour and a half with a total path length just under 48 miles. The tornado was the strongest in Cooke County and resulted in 7 fatalities in Cooke County.

In Montague County, the tornado began near Roth Rd and Body Rd, approximately 5 miles southeast of Bowie, impacting trees and isolated outbuildings. The tornado moved eastward, damaging multiple rural residences in south central Montague. Two residences, in particular, sustained damage consistent with EF-2 intensity tornadic winds of 120 to 125 mph (DI 2, DOD 6). This tornado continued eastward, tracking south through southeast of the Forestburg community. Widespread tree and outbuilding damage was observed across southeast Montague County, consistent with high end EF-0 to mid range EF-1 damage (winds 75 to 110 mph). Minor structural damage was also sustained to several residences in the areas south through southeast of Forestburg. The tornado exited Montague County at 1008 pm CDT time, just west of Rosston between Seldom Seen Rd and Cooke Co Rd 345. The estimated track length for this portion of the tornado was 15.4 miles, and the maximum width was 1400 yards as the tornado was exiting the county. The highest damage rating in Montague County was EF-2 with winds of maximum estimated winds of 120-125 mph.

Another round of dryline-induced convection took place the night of May 25 as a shortwave trough moved overhead. Thunderstorms were more isolated in nature, but one ambitious supercell produced multiple tornadoes the evening of May 25th. A total of 5 tornadoes were produced by the supercell as it moved across Montague, Cooke, Denton, Collin, and Hunt counties, and one more EF-2 occurred from a separate storm in Eastland County. The most notable tornado of the event was a long-track EF-3 tornado across Montague, Cooke, and Denton counties that killed 7 people and injured over 100, drawing national attention to our forecast area and costing an estimated $20 million in damage. A short but intense satellite tornado was also rated EF-3 north of Celina in Collin County. Additional EF-1 tornadoes occurred in Denton, Collin, and Hunt counties. Storm surveys for this event took 3 days to complete. In the after math of the storms the night of May 25th, dissipating thunderstorms produced strong winds across the DFW Metroplex with measured gusts of 60-70 mph winds causing sporadic tree and fence damage.