EF2 tornado in Cherokee County, Texas

An EF-2 tornado with maximum estimated winds near 120 mph touched down in a rural field approximately 2 miles north of the Neches River. It initially snapped several hundred hardwood and softwood trees at their trunks before destroying two single wide mobile homes and ripping the roof off of a single family home at the end of FM 220 near County Road 2806. There, winds were estimated to be at their strongest at approximately 120 mph. The tornado also tossed several antique vehicles near the home and then went on to snap another 20 trees before lifting along FM 220.

A strong upper level trough entered the Southern Plains during the afternoon hours of April 12th, which allowed southerly low level winds to gradually return warm and moist air from the Gulf of Mexico north into East Texas and North Louisiana. An upper level disturbance ejecting northeast ahead of the trough across portions of East Texas and North Louisiana during the early morning hours of April 13th carried enough elevated instability, shear, and forcing north of an advancing warm front over Southeast Texas and South Louisiana, such that scattered strong to severe thunderstorms developed, with numerous reports of large hail and occasional damaging winds received. The warm front continued to gradually mix north northwest into East Texas and Northcentral Louisiana by late morning and early afternoon hours, with a very warm, moist, and unstable air mass noted over Deep East Texas and portions of Northcentral Louisiana south of the front. Coupled with even stronger forcing and low level shear ahead of the approaching upper trough, additional strong to severe thunderstorms developed near and south of the front from late morning through the afternoon, producing numerous reports of damaging winds with several tornadoes across portions of East Texas. These showers and thunderstorms diminished by early evening with the departure of the trough, and the arrival of an associated cold front which brought about cooler, drier, and more stable air southeast into the region.