EF0 Tornado — Franklin, Texas

2015-12-12 · near Cypress, Franklin, Texas

Event narrative

A NWS Storm Survey team concluded that the damage in Franklin County, Texas west of Purley community was consistent with that of tornado damage. The EF-2 tornado first touched down near County Road 3250 and traveled in a northerly direction, crossing County Road 2376 before lifting after crossing County Road 3055. The worst of the damage was noted near the intersection of County Road 3170 and County Road 2376. Numerous trees were snapped and/or uprooted along the path of this tornado. Around 20 structures suffered damage including 4 mobile homes that were completely destroyed. Four of the 20 homes suffered major damage. Two people were injured in one of the mobile homes.

Wider weather episode

A strong upper level trough moved into the Central and Southern Plains during the morning and afternoon hours of December 12th. This trough ejected into the plains with a slight negative tilt which was indicative of strong jet dynamics in association with this trough. Likewise, low level and deep level shear was quite strong with this trough across Northeast Texas during the late afternoon and evening hours of the 12th as well as the morning hours of the 13th. While instability was very weak, the strong shear made up for the development of strong to severe thunderstorms, some of which produced tornadoes across Northeast Texas. Training of storm echoes also occurred which resulted in widespread flash flooding across the region as well.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.0371, -95.3032)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 606370. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.