EF1 Tornado — Shelby, Texas

2024-07-08 · near Timpson, Shelby, Texas

Event narrative

An EF-1 tornado with estimated maximum winds near 110 mph touched down in the town of Timpson, where a business lost nearly half of its roof, and a nearby recreational vehicle was also destroyed. City Hall also sustained damage, and two cars were thrown near the intersection of Highway 59 and 84. Numerous hardwood and softwood trees were also snapped in town, before tracking northwest while remaining just north of Highway 84. Several trees were snapped here, before the tornado lifted just after crossing FM 1970 just north of CR 4843.

Wider weather episode

Tropical Storm Beryl briefly strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane with 80 mph winds as it made landfall along the Southeast Texas coast near Matagorda Bay during the early morning hours of July 8th, and tracked north-northeast across East Texas and into Southwest Arkansas during the afternoon and evening hours. While Beryl weakened into a tropical storm over portions of Deep East Texas by mid-afternoon, very strong wind shear and helicity existed near and east of the center, contributing to the largest tornado outbreak in NWS Shreveport history, as well as with any landfalling tropical system. A total of 43 tornadoes were confirmed through NWS surveys across East Texas, North Louisiana, and Southwest Arkansas, before Beryl weakened into a depression by late afternoon over East Texas. As a part of this outbreak, fifteen tornadoes touched down across portions of East Texas.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (31.9062, -94.3975)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1200147. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.