EF1 tornado in Smith County, Texas

This is a continuation of the Southeast Henderson County tornado. This tornado moved across Lake Palestine as a waterspout as it crossed into extreme Southwest Smith County into Dogwood City along Highway 155, where a few small trees were uprooted and multiple large limbs were snapped. This tornado and associated damage continued to narrow as it crossed Highway 155, but still topped a few trees along County Road 1170, snapping several large branches and partially snapping a power pole, downing a power line across Lakeway Circle. The tornado then lifted as it moved into an inlet along Lake Palestine just west of Emerald Bay. The estimated maximum winds associated with the entire tornado track from Southeast Henderson County was 105 mph, although winds in extreme Southwest Smith County were estimated near 85 mph. The estimated maximum path width of the tornado was 480 yards, which was found in the Briarwood Bay subdivision in Coffee City in extreme Southeast Henderson County.

A few discrete supercells developed late in the afternoon through the early evening hours on May 23rd along an advancing dryline from North Central Texas into East Texas. These thunderstorms developed in an environment with steep mid-level lapse rates ranging from 7-8 C/km. Surface temperatures in the upper 80s to lower 90s along with dewpoints in the lower to mid 70s yielded a narrow axis of extreme buoyancy just ahead of the dryline. The 0-1 km storm-relative helicity (SRH) was estimated via to be near 100-200 m2/s2. A corridor of stronger south southeast surface flow juxtaposed with the instability axis, combined with a gradual increase in the low-level jet into the evening and enhanced backing near the dryline, provided for a locally enhanced low level shear and more favorable tornadic environment. As a result, a tornado occurred within a supercell across far southwestern parts of Smith County along with a few localized severe damaging wind gusts.