EF1 tornado in Gregg County, Texas

An EF-1 tornado with estimated maximum winds near 94 mph touched down along CR 1122 in Southern Gregg County, just east of FM 2012 west of Kilgore, where a few trees were snapped and uprooted. A doublewide manufactured home lost most of its metal skirting and sustained the loss of about half of its roof and porch covering. The tornado continued east and caused significant roof damage to a second doublewide manufactured home. As the tornado entered the city of Kilgore, two businesses along Industrial Blvd lost most of their roofs. The tornado then tracked across Commerce Street at the Harris Street Park, where multiple trees were snapped and uprooted, and dugouts were damaged at Driller Park. The tornado then took a slight southeast turn, crossing into Northern Rusk County.

A large upper level trough dropped southeast across the Plains and into the Four State Region during the afternoon and evening hours of October 28th, reinforcing a strong cold front southeast into Northeast Texas, Southwest Arkansas, and North Louisiana during the evening and overnight hours. A very warm, moist, and unstable air mass developed ahead of the front during the afternoon, within a zone of strong wind shear ahead of the approaching trough. Strong forcing ahead of the trough and along a warm front contributed to the development of scattered severe thunderstorms across portions of East Texas and North Louisiana along and south of the I-20 corridor. Two isolated tornadoes briefly touched down across Northern Smith County near Lindale and along the Gregg/Rusk County line in the city of Kilgore, with additional instances of damaging winds observed as well before the storms shifted into Northwest Louisiana.