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EF2 tornado in Runnels County, Texas

Tornado May 2, 2024 · Runnels County, Texas

EF2

Rating

4.5 mi

Path length

390 yd

Path width

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 390 yards (0.22 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

The tornado damaged trees off County Road 121 and County Road 122

before damaging several structures at a private residence off

County Road 123. The tornado moved a one story house off of its

foundation and severely damaged a metal barn structure next to the

home. The tornado damaged additional trees west of County Road 123.

In addition, the tornado damaged wooden utility poles along County

Road 123. The estimated peak wind of the tornado was 115 mph.

The wider storm

A favorable weather pattern for widespread severe weather was in place across west central Texas during early May. There was an upper level southwest flow and a sharp dryline in the area. Also, extreme instability was present along with strong vertical wind shear during the late afternoon and evening hours. Supercell thunderstorms developed and produced strong tornadoes in Jones, Runnels and Sterling counties which resulted in damage to homes and other structures. Also, severe thunderstorms produced giant size hail and damaging winds.

Began near Ballinger (31.7582, -99.9230).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF3 Jones County EF3 Coke County EF2 Coke County EF2 Concho County EFU Jones County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1187523. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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