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EF3 tornado in Jefferson County, Texas

Tornado December 28, 2024 · Jefferson County, Texas

EF3
Rating
26.7 mi
Path length
880 yd
Path width
1
Injury
$500K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 880 yards (0.50 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 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

An EF-3 tornado developed south of Houston and moved across Chambers County into Jefferson County just south of Russel Road. It snapped off power poles at French Rd before continuing northeast. An area of trees were snapped off and uprooted just south of the Big Hill Strategic Oil Reserve. The tornado continued northeast where it destroyed the top floor of the Sabine Ranch Lodge, stripped metal from a nearby industrial building, flipped a car into a side yard, and damaged the roofs of two homes. The car contained two people, one sustained a minor injury. The tornado crossed Highways 87 and 82 where it snapped transmission poles. Finally, it moved overtop Sabine Lake. The track continued into western Cameron Parish. Maximum winds were estimated at 161 mph.

The wider storm

A series of short waves moved across the region during late December causing multiple rounds of severe weather and flooding. One long lived tornado formed southeast of Houston and moved into deep southeast Texas before crossing into Louisiana.

Began near Hamshire (29.7170, -94.3550).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1226825. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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