EF1 Tornado — Harrison, Texas

2024-07-08 · near Elysian Flds, Harrison, Texas

Event narrative

This is a continuation of the Northeast Panola County tornado. This EF-1 tornado had weakened slightly to estimated maximum winds of 105 mph as it crossed over into Southeast Harrison County, where multiple hardwood trees were snapped on Don Long Road, and a tree fell along the corner of a home, damaging a wall and a portion of the roof. The tornado continued northwest crossing FM 9 about three-quarters of a mile north of FM 451, where additional trees were snapped and uprooted, and a portion of a metal roof was torn off of a home. The tornado finally lifted before reaching Waskom-Elysian Fields Road, with a total track length of nearly 28 miles from West Central DeSoto Parish, Southwest Caddo Parish, Northeast Panola County, and Southeast Harrison County.

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 → (32.3850, -94.0800)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1200192. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.