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EF0 tornado in Harris County, Texas

Tornado May 24, 2015 · Harris County, Texas

EF0
Rating
0.5 mi
Path length
50 yd
Path width
4
Injuries
$200K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 50 yards (0.03 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF0 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF0 is light damage: shingles and siding peeled, gutters torn, branches broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 65–85 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

A fast moving tornado briefly touched down at two points in southwest Houston. There was damage to a storage facility along and just west of Gessner Road, an apartment complex, and an office building. There were ten structures that had roof damage at the apartment complex, including one with complete roof removal and interior wall damage. A twelve story glass faade building just south of the apartment complex along Bissonnet Street had several north facing windows blown out. Damage was indicative of an EF1 tornado. There were four minor injuries at the apartment complex where the most significant damage occurred.

The wider storm

An upper disturbance initiated a large thunderstorm complex that traveled across southeastern Texas. This line produced damaging severe thunderstorm gusts and an EF-1 tornado along its eastward progression across the Houston area.

Began near Jeannetta (29.6740, -95.5280).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 579261. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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