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EF2 tornado in Galveston County, Texas

Tornado October 31, 2015 · Galveston County, Texas

EF2

Rating

4.2 mi

Whole path

50 yd

Path width

$3.0M

Damage as recorded

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

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 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

The EF-2 tornado touched down just east of Clover Field Airport (Brazoria County) and continued on a narrow northeast track into Galveston County. This tornado expanded in size and weakened in intensity as it approached FM 518 over the last half of its track. There was extensive tree damage along the entire track. Homes sustained partial roof loss and tree damage consistent with an EF-1 rating from east of the airport through Sunset Drive in Friendswood (Galveston County). Low-end EF-2 damage occurred on Chester Drive in Friendswood where there was complete loss of a residential home's roof. Estimated peak wind was 115 mph.

The wider storm

Tornadoes formed along a near coastal county warm frontal boundary that was downstream of a central Texas cold front.

Began near League City S S Arpt (29.5370, -95.2210).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

EF2 Brazoria County EF2 Harris County EF1 Brazoria County EF1 Brazoria County EF0 Brazoria County EF0 Brazoria County EF0 Brazoria County EF0 Harris County EF0 Harris County EF0 Harris County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 609210. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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