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EF2 tornado in Fayette County, Texas

Tornado May 3, 2019 · Fayette County, Texas

EF2
Rating
2.4 mi
Path length
75 yd
Path width
$4.0M
Damage as recorded
EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 75 yards (0.04 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 same storm that produced the Salem-Freyburg Rd. EF0 tornado continued to move north through central Fayette County. As it approached the west side of La Grange, it produced another tornado with visible tree damage just south of the La Grange airport near the intersection of Supak Ln. and Jackson Rd. Large oak trees were damaged and uprooted near this area and areas along Old Lockhart Rd. Damage in this area was estimated to be EF1. The tornado then approached Hwy 71 producing heavy damage to a business on the south side of the road. At this location a large metal building was destroyed while another was heavily damaged. Business and employee vehicles were overturned and a 90,000 lb. piece of machinery was shifted and overturned. Damage was estimated to be EF2 as it crossed this area. Employees successfully took shelter in the business office and no injuries were reported. The tornado continued to move north and crossed Hwy 71, destroying/collapsing a metal building across the street and

doing considerable damage to very large oak trees. The path continued north to Egypt Rd. where a small church was heavily damaged and more tree damage was observed. The tornado finally dissipated north of this area near Egypt Rd. just south of the Colorado River.

The wider storm

Convection from the previous day left a number of outflow boundaries across South Central Texas. These interacted with a mid to upper level shortwave trough to trigger thunderstorms. Some of these storms produced tornadoes, large hail, damaging wind gusts, and heavy rain that led to flash flooding.

Began near Plum (29.9071, -96.9573).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

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

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 823906. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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