EF0 tornado in Ellis County, Texas
Tornado October 20, 2019 · Ellis County, Texas
The path drawn at its surveyed width of 170 yards (0.10 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.
What the National Weather Service wrote
A tornado touched down briefly near Main Street and Highway 45/Central Street in Ferris. A silo near 7th and Main Street sustained damage and partially collapsed. There was roof damage to multiple business buildings south of 5th Street and along Main and Central Streets. A downed power pole and an uprooted tree were also noted in the same area. The damage was consistent with winds speeds between 75 and 85 mph, or EF-0 intensity. Sporadic wind damage was found across other potions of Ferris with damage mainly to trees and roofing.
The wider storm
Thunderstorms erupted across the DFW Metroplex as a strong upper level system and a cold front impacted the region on the evening of October 20 through the early morning hours of October 21st. A few storms developed ahead of the approaching cold front in the late evening hours of the 20th, producing tornadoes in Dallas and surrounding areas. Additional storms formed a squall line along the cold front, producing a large swath of damaging winds across North and Central Texas overnight into the early hours of October 21st. A total of 10 tornadoes were identified by NWS Survey teams, occurring both within the storms ahead of the cold front, and embedded within the squall line. The strongest of these tornadoes was an EF-3 that stretched almost 16 miles across the northern portions of Dallas County. Following on the heels of that tornado, an EF-2 tracked about 2.5 miles through Garland in Dallas County. The remaining count of tornadoes included 4 EF-1s and 4 EF-0s. Miraculously, no one was killed or significantly injured in any of the tornadoes! The total estimated cost of insured damage for all the tornadoes alone is over $2 billion, which the Insurance Council of Texas claims is the most costly tornado event in the state's history. Of the straight line wind damage, the most severe was located in Farmersville in Collin Co where a mobile home was rolled and destroyed. Three people were injured in the home. Over a dozen other manufactured homes in the same area were damaged, too.
Began near Ferris (32.5332, -96.6664).
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 856503. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.
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