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EF3 Tornado — Harrison, Texas

2010-01-20 · near Crossroads, Harrison, Texas

$1.5M

Property damage

7.6 mi

Path length

1087 yds

Path width

Event narrative

The tornado first touched down in a wooded area west of Ireland Williams Road. The tornado quickly intensified as it approached Interstate 20 near mile marker 628 where 2 businesses were destroyed on both the south and north services roads. One of the businesses was a metal building and the other was a mobile home. One home was completely destroyed with only a few interior walls remaining. A second home sustained major damage to the roof and carport. Debris was scattered across interstate 20 and Hwy 80. Several other homes were damaged further east along both sides of the service road. Many trees were snapped and uprooted in the area'some were snapped down close to the base. The tornado continued northeast crossing Bellview Road into Jonesville, TX where a grocery store roof was peeled and walls were blown out of a large warehouse. The tornado also damaged some metal buildings north of Jonesville along FM 134. The tornado tracked east across a wooded area snapping and uprooting trees crossing FM 9 headed east into Caddo Parish in LA. Maximum winds are estimated at 150-160 mph.

Wider weather episode

A very warm and unstable air mass developed across the region on January 20th. This air mass was accompanied by unusually high dewpoint values for late January with ambient temperatures approaching the 70 degree mark. A very strong and vigorous storm system moved out of the Great Basin and into the Southern Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley during the late afternoon and evening hours of January 20th. Wind shear throughout the atmosphere was very strong and supportive of strong to severe thunderstorms. Low level wind shear was significant enough such that super cell thunderstorms developed across the region, producing tornadoes, large hail and damaging wind gusts.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.4869, -94.1689)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 203448. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.