EF1 Tornado — Rockwall, Texas

2019-10-20 · near Rockwall, Rockwall, Texas

Event narrative

Tornadic wind damage was observed in Rockwall, generally parallel with and north of US 66, from the eastern shore of Lake Ray Hubbard into northeastern Rockwall. The most intense damage was observed close to the lake, along Sunset Hill Drive where several homes sustained significant roof damage. As the path continued farther east across SH 205, damage consisted of downed trees and fences and missing shingles on roofs. Based on eyewitness accounts and video footage, a tornado, with maximum rated wind speeds of 90 mph, or EF-1 intensity was confirmed. The tornado is believed to have developed over Lake Ray Hubbard with a path length of almost 2 miles.

Wider weather episode

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.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.9312, -96.4864)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 856504. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.