EF2 tornado in Shelby County, Texas
Tornado December 23, 2009 · Shelby County, Texas
NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Shelby County → Panola County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.
The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.
What the National Weather Service wrote
Several homes and metal outbuildings were damaged closer to the Timpson, Texas area. A travel trailer and barn was completely destroyed. Numerous trees snapped along the path as well. This tornado continued into southern Panola County, Texas.
The wider storm
A strong upper level storm system moved its way out of the southern Great Basin and into the Southern Plains during the afternoon hours of December 23rd. Strong southerly flow was found ahead of this storm system with dewpoint temperatures in the lower to middle 60s noted northward to the Interstate 20 corridor of northeast Texas and northern Louisiana. Impressive deep layer shear was noted in the warm sector across the region which was conducive for discrete storm cells during the afternoon and evening across northeast Texas. These storms spawned tornadoes and produced large hail across portions of northeast Texas. The storm system moved eastward during the predawn hours of December 24th with again, numerous storms producing tornadoes across southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana. In addition to all the storm damage...these storms were prolific rain makers with numerous reports of flash flooding across the region as well.
Began near Meldrum (31.9300, -94.3800).
Other tornadoes from the same storm system
10 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 203008. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.
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