EF1 tornado in Hemphill County, Texas

The tornado started near County Road 30 on the very eastern edge of Hemphill County and quickly intensified as it crossed onto property where it produced damage to several buildings and a home. The home sustained some roofing damage and the back corner of the house had a partial uplift of the roof deck. Additional storage buildings were damaged including shed doors blown off and roofs and siding damaged. Several trees were uprooted in the yard. A cattle wind break was partially torn from the ground. The tornado then crossed into Ellis County Oklahoma (NWS Norman forecast area), where it snapped a few tree limbs on E690. The tornado then crossed an open field and the last noted damage was along NS1690 where some large branches were snapped. Based on storm spotter footage and survey, it appears the tornado lifted shortly thereafter. The tornado was rated an EF1 based on the house damage and the tree damage. The entire track length was around 1.6 miles. The maximum estimated winds were 95mph.

In the late afternoon to early evening hours of May 18, a strong upper level storm system and surface dryline created favorable conditions for severe thunderstorms across the far eastern Panhandles. This environment was characterized by extreme instability and very high surface dewpoints in the low 70s east of the dryline, which supported all hazards of severe weather. Two supercells developed in the eastern Texas Panhandle. One moved to the north and produced large hail up to golfball size before moving into the Oklahoma Panhandle. The other also produced large hail up to baseball size along with a couple of tornadoes near the state line with western Oklahoma.