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EF1 tornado in Erath County, Texas

Tornado March 8, 2016 · Erath County, Texas

EF1
Rating
2.2 mi
Path length
100 yd
Path width
$500K
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 100 yards (0.06 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF1 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF1 is moderate damage: roofs badly stripped, mobile homes pushed off foundations or overturned, windows broken, consistent with estimated gusts of 86–110 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 tornado caused EF-1 damage to several businesses and homes in the city limits of Stephenville. The tornado began near a business on U.S. Highway 377 on the south side of town, damaging a metal building structure. The tornado moved north and northeast, heavily damaging an apartment building, and causing tree and power line damage on the campus of Tarleton State University. As the tornado dissipated, homes and garages were damaged at the Foster's home for children, on the north side of Stephenville.

The wider storm

This was a multi-day severe weather and flood event. It started with a large-scale upper level low pressure system which deepened over the Four-Corners region. Moisture and instability increased in advance of this system. Storms developed along a dry line Monday afternoon, many of which produced severe weather or flash flooding or both. Another area of storms formed ahead of the upper trough over northwest Texas Monday night and pushed east-southeast across the area Tuesday, producing severe weather and flooding. A third round of storms produced flooding across mainly the southern half of the region Tuesday night into Wednesday.

Began near Stephenville (32.2055, -98.2172).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 623768. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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