EF4 Tornado — Van Zandt, Texas

2017-04-29 · near Big Rock, Van Zandt, Texas

Event narrative

The Henderson County tornado continued into Van Zandt County. A National Weather Service damage survey crew found the start of tornado number three began in Henderson County, approximately 3 miles due south of Eustace. This tornado eventually moved into Van Zandt County, where the storm produced EF4 damage. In Henderson County, several homes suffered EF2 damage, along with a considerable amount of tree damage and damage to farm buildings. As the storm moved into Van Zandt County, the tornado grew to a mile wide at the tornado's maximum width. Over 50 homes were either damaged or destroyed, with a continuous path noted between counties.

Wider weather episode

A deep low pressure system near the Four corners continued to move east, causing early morning thunderstorms to develop along the Texas Panhandle and into Oklahoma. A cold front was moving southeast across the state and entered our northwestern

counties around sunrise. The strength of the cap was sufficient to hamper any development until mid afternoon. Deep forcing for ascent approached from from the west while remnant boundaries associated with convection over far East Texas and West Louisiana moved in from the east. By 3:30 PM, several parameters came together for the rapid development of severe storms east of Interstate 35/35E. Pre-frontal convection led to the development of supercells, producing numerous tornadoes over a relatively small area. Additional storm development quickly developed along the cold front with several reports of large hail, and eventually producing a brief EF-0 Quasi-Linear Convective System (QLCS) tornado (Tornado #7).

The survey crew teams determined yesterday that there was a nearly 55 mile damage swath, yet found evidence that there were two tornadoes which caused the damage. One tornado began in western Henderson County and moved into central Van Zandt County. This tornado occluded and dissipated, and a second, long track tornado began nearby. This second tornado was the EF-3 which produced damage on the east side of Canton, Fruitvale, Emory, and finally dissipating near Lake Fork. The first tornado had

a track of approximately 12 miles, while the other had a track of nearly 42 miles.

It is known that four people lost their lives due to these tornadoes, and 59 people were injured.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.3570, -95.9549)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 683249. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.