EF2 tornado in Panola County, Texas

This is a continuation of the Southern Rusk County tornado. This tornado continued northeast towards Lake Murvaul, where it maintained EF1 intensity while snapping and uprooting numerous trees as it paralleled FM 1971. Upon reaching the lake, the tornado reached several residences along the shoreline where it increased in intensity as it snapped and uprooted more trees and damaged the shingles of many homes. By this time, the tornado had strengthened to an EF2, with estimated maximum winds of 115 mph. One person was injured at their residence on the shore of Lake Murvaul, while video of the tornado was recorded by a storm chaser as it crossed the lake. After downing trees which damaged several structures on the east shore of the lake, it weakened and produced more sporadic damage before lifting north-northwest of Gary City. A review of video, TDEM ground survey data, and Sentinel satellite data indicate that the tornado lifted for approximately 5 miles before it touched down again in Southern Panola County.

A longwave trough shifted east out of the Rockies and into the Central and Southern Plains during the day on March 27th, with the southwest flow ahead of the trough ejecting a series of upper level disturbances northeast across Northeast Texas, Southwest Arkansas, and Northwest Louisiana during the afternoon and evening. Meanwhile, a broad warm and moist sector had spread north across all of the Ark-La-Tex into Eastern Oklahoma and much of Arkansas ahead of this trough, with temperatures warming into the upper 70s and lower 80s areawide. This resulted in moderate instability developing as large scale forcing increased during the late afternoon through the evening hours, resulting in scattered to numerous shower and thunderstorm development across much of these areas. Increasing wind shear late in the afternoon also promoted the development of scattered severe thunderstorms over East Texas, Southwest Arkansas, and Northwest Louisiana, with various reports of damaging winds and large hail received. However, one lone supercell developed over Eastern Anderson County Texas, which produced multiple tornadoes along its track from Cherokee County northeast into Northwest Nacogdoches, Southern Rusk, and Southern Panola Counties, before eventually moving into Northern Desoto and Southeast Caddo Parishes in Northwest Louisiana. These storms eventually organized along a broken line as it pushed into North Louisiana, ahead of a cold front that shifted southeast into the area during the early morning hours of the 28th.