EF1 Tornado — Upshur, Texas

2025-04-04 · near Shady Grove, Upshur, Texas

Event narrative

This is a continuation of the Wood County tornado. This EF-1 tornado with estimated maximum winds near 110 mph widened as it was crossing into Western Upshur County across Palm Road, FM 1092, Tangerine Road, Nutmeg Road, and FM 49. It continued northeast snapping and uprooting more trees as it crossed Highway 154, where it destroyed a home at the intersection of Highway 154 and Alligator Road. The survey team determined that the home was not built on a concrete slab foundation and was not well-constructed, with trees nearby receiving little to no damage. This was also consistent with damage recorded along the rest of the tornado's path. The tornado continued northeast, crossing FM 852, before finally lifting along Armadillo Road on the north side of Lake Gilmer. Some interesting damage was noted on the FM 852 bridge over Lake Gilmer where some pavement had been scoured on the southwest shoulder of the bridge. The tornado clearly passed north of the lake and did not cause this damage. However, it appears likely than intense Rear Flank Downdraft (RFD) winds estimated at 70-80 mph induced extreme wave action on the lake, washing up and over the bridge, which sits very low relative of the water. The waves eroded the pavement on the shoulder, evidenced by the erosion pattern, and the piling up of the scoured pavement which was perpendicular to the incoming waves and the RFD.

Wider weather episode

A stationary front extended across portions of Northeast Texas and Southwest Arkansas during the early morning hours on April 4th, but lifted north into Southeast Oklahoma and Western Arkansas during the day. This was in response to an intensifying low level jet that developed ahead of a large upper trough that extended from the Intermountain West into the Plains, which provided the necessary lift across the very warm, moist, and unstable air mass in place south of this front across much of the region. As a result, numerous showers and thunderstorms developed across the area during the afternoon and evening, which produced damaging winds, large hail, and tornadoes. As these storms moved repeatedly over the same areas, flash flooding also became an issue across Northeast Texas and Southwest Arkansas through the 5th, where total rainfall amounts of 4-8 inches fell.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.7050, -95.1530)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1256346. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.