EF0 tornado in Palo Pinto County, Texas

Tornado May 18, 2025 · Palo Pinto County, Texas

EF0

Rating

2.8 mi

Whole path

1,000 yd

Path width

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Palo Pinto County → Palo Pinto County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 1,000 yards (0.57 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 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

Storm chaser and spotter videos of a rapidly cyclic, multi-vortex tornado was confirmed by scattered tree damage along a path that stretched from Panama Road southwest of Santo to FM 4 south of Santo. For the most part, each of the vortices were relatively shorted-lived, lasting from just a few seconds to up to 30 seconds. At one point, two vortices near FM 4 appeared to nearly rotate around each other before they dissipated. Based on the observed tree damage, this tornado was rated an EF-0 multi-vortex tornado with maximum estimated winds of 80 mph.

The wider storm

On the afternoon of May 18, scattered thunderstorms ignited over the Big Country, initiated by an upper trough digging southeast over the Intermountain West. These storms formed along a dryline and rapidly intensified, spreading east into western North Texas. Several of these storms produced large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes. A total of 6 tornadoes were surveyed were Eastland to Parker counties: one EF-Unknown, three EF-0s, and two EF-1s.

Began near Santo (32.5820, -98.2443).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

4 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF1 Palo Pinto County EF1 Palo Pinto County EF0 Eastland County EF0 Parker County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1265225. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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