EF1 tornado in Jim Wells County, Texas

An EF0 tornado touched down in the city of Premont near the intersection of Northwest 3rd Street and South Cora Street. The tornado traveled south and briefly produced EF1 damage near Southeast 5th Street and Southern Bernice Street. Partial roof damage was observed to a few homes, numerous large tree limbs were snapped, and one tree was completely uprooted. The tornado continues south of the Premont city limits and regained EF1 status near the intersection of Highway 281 and East County Road 401. Numerous power poles were snapped at their mid-point and several poles were leaning in a southerly direction.

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.