EF3 Tornado — Hall, Texas

2016-05-23 · near Turkey, Hall, Texas

Event narrative

This is the continuation path of the tornado that began in northern Motley County. A significant tornado tracked northwest across rural southwest Hall County before narrowing and later dissipating about 1.5 miles east of Turkey at 2106 CST. Storm spotters indicated this large tornado was rain wrapped as it approached Turkey.

A NWS storm damage survey rated this tornado as EF-3. Although damage indicators were sparse in this part of Hall County, the wind estimate was derived from several steel pylons supporting electrical lines that were bent to the ground from winds estimated in the range of 135 to 140 mph. Additionally, there were trees blown over and uprooted as viewed from a distance along the nearest roadway. However, the survey team was unable to survey this damage due to flooded roads and a limited road network.

The development of this tornado and its unusual northwest motion were likely the result of a northward-moving outflow boundary tied to a left moving supercell that earlier impacted Matador (Motley County). Radar data indicate tornadogenesis occurred shortly after this outflow boundary impinged on the supercell.

Wider weather episode

A second consecutive afternoon and evening of scattered thunderstorms developed along an active dryline. Thunderstorms initially developed across the eastern South Plains and quickly became severe under an extremely unstable atmosphere. Storms slowly moved into the Rolling Plains with Hall County sustaining much of the damage reported on the evening of the 23rd. A significant tornado was observed in Motley and Hall Counties from 2030 CST to 2106 CST associated with a slow moving thunderstorm. This half mile wide EF3 tornado damaged steel pylons supporting electric lines in Hall County. The tornado had an erratic motion moving from the southeast to northwest before dissipating a few miles east of Turkey (Hall County).

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.3133, -100.7257)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 626063. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.