EF1 tornado in Shelby County, Texas

This brief EF-1 tornado with estimated maximum winds near 95 mph began along County Road 3156, where a few trees were downed, and then it traveled southeast to cross Highway 7 where it intersected with County Road 3153. Most of the damage here was also to trees with a consolidated area of snapped softwood trees giving the tornado its estimated maximum windspeed rating. The tornado then continued to the southeast and was judged to have ended just after crossing County Road 3215. One outbuilding was destroyed at this location, but otherwise the survey team could verify only minor damage done to a few buildings here and earlier when the tornado crossed Highway 7. Localized snapping of tree trunks was also quite evident around a pond just to the west of County Road 3215.

An upper level trough ejected east-northeast from the Desert Southwest into Northwest Texas and Western Oklahoma during the afternoon and evening of February 14th, which resulted in the increase of very warm, humid air north across the region from the Gulf. In advance of this system, southwest flow aloft became established, with increasing instability at the surface and aloft coupled with strong wind shear and an approaching cold front enhancing large scale ascent across much of the Four State Region. As a result, showers and thunderstorms, some of which became severe over portions of East Texas and Central Louisiana, developed and spread east across the area during the late afternoon through the evening. Multiple reports of wind damage were received, with a brief, weak isolated tornado having been spawned in Northeast Shelby County near the James community.