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EF2 tornado in Gray County, Texas

Tornado November 16, 2015 · Gray County, Texas

EF2
Rating
10.4 mi
Whole path
175 yd
Path width

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Carson County → Gray County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 175 yards (0.10 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF2 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF2 is considerable damage: roofs torn off well-built houses, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, consistent with estimated gusts of 111–135 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

This was the first of two tornadoes produced by this supercell. The most significant damage occurred in Carson County which caused the tornado to be rated EF-2 with an estimated peak wind of 115 mph. The tornado ended shortly after crossing into Gray County.

The wider storm

A powerful storm system brought significant severe weather to the region. Tornadoes, damaging winds, and large hail accompanied thunderstorms that formed during the afternoon hours and persisted into the evening. This was a very unusual event for late fall in the Central High Plains. One significant factor in this anomalous event was the presence of an unusual amount of moisture for mid-November, contributing to relatively high values of instability. No tornadoes had previously been documented in the Texas Panhandle during the month of November.

Began near Kings Mill (35.3700, -101.0860).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

14 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF3 Gray CountyEF3 Gray CountyEF1 Gray CountyEF1 Hemphill CountyEF1 Ochiltree CountyEF1 Ochiltree CountyEF0 Ochiltree CountyEF0 Lipscomb CountyEF0 Carson CountyEF0 Potter CountyEF0 Armstrong CountyEF0 Hutchinson CountyEF0 Roberts CountyEF0 Roberts County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 608858. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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