EF1 Tornado — Jim Wells, Texas

2014-05-27 · near Alice, Jim Wells, Texas

Event narrative

An EF1 tornado touched down on the southeast side of the city of Alice just south of the intersection of Highway 359 and Stadium Road. The tornado traveled 2.3 miles and lifted just north of the intersection of County Road 1352 and County Road 382. This tornado produced shingle damage to the roof tops of several homes, lifted the roof deck off of several homes, and snapped a dozen power poles at their mid-point. The tornado destroyed a metal building and a portable building, broke overhead doors, blew out the siding of several metal buildings, and downed numerous trees.

Wider weather episode

A mesoscale convective system moved into southeast Texas during the morning hours on May 27th. This left an outflow boundary located over south-central Texas by the afternoon. A strong upper level low pressure system was moving across north Texas during the day and a strong upper level jet streak enhanced the low to mid level shear in the atmosphere during the afternoon. A supercell developed south of San Antonio near a merger between the outflow boundary and sea-breeze boundary. The supercell moved to the south-southeast and then south along Highway 281 from Pleasanton down through Alice. The supercell produced large hail at times over Live Oak County. The storm intensified as it approached Alice, causing damage due to large hail and high winds. An EF1 tornado moved across the southeast side of Alice. The storm weakened briefly after leaving Alice but again organized as it moved toward the community of Premont in southern Jim Wells County. Another EF1 tornado occurred near Premont.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (27.7519, -98.0538)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 521134. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.