Tornado in Hemphill County, Texas

This tornado developed near County Road 17 and produced some minor tree damage, with limbs and branches being blown down. The tornado then continued across open field before impacting a residence just off Highway 277, where it brought down trees and some power lines along that road. As it crossed Highway 277, it brought down about 7 power poles, and caused more impressive tree damage, snapping branches and some trees while uprooting other hardwood trees. It resulted in some minor roof damage to a shed and damaged another shed at a natural gas facility. The tornado then crossed County Road 22, just to the south of Highway 277. Here, it snapped several hardwood branches and uprooted another tree. It also lifted the lids off of two silos, one of which collapsed in on the side. The debris of the lids ended up damaging a nearby barn. The tornado then crossed open fields and Highway 277 once more before causing some minor tree branch damage along Highway 2124. The tornado likely lifted after this point.

The tornado started near County Road 30 on the very eastern edge of Hemphill County and quickly intensified as it crossed onto property where it produced damage to several buildings and a home. The home sustained some roofing damage and the back corner of the house had a partial uplift of the roof deck. Additional storage buildings were damaged including shed doors blown off and roofs and siding damaged. Several trees were uprooted in the yard. A cattle wind break was partially torn from the ground. The tornado then crossed into Ellis County Oklahoma (NWS Norman forecast area), where it snapped a few tree limbs on E690. The tornado then crossed an open field and the last noted damage was along NS1690 where some large branches were snapped. Based on storm spotter footage and survey, it appears the tornado lifted shortly thereafter. The tornado was rated an EF1 based on the house damage and the tree damage. The entire track length was around 1.6 miles. The maximum estimated winds were 95mph.

An EF-2 tornado touched down as a cone at 4:58 PM CDT and quickly became a wedge tornado with a path width of 0.7 miles. Approximately forty individuals took cover in a storm shelter at a drilling rig. Three people outside the shelter were injured and two of them were airlifted with critical injuries. The edge of the tornadic rotation lifted two temporary mobile homes and lofted them 50 to 70 yards completely destroying the structures. Two pickup trucks were also thrown roughly 50 yards. Some debarking of trees was noted near the destroyed mobile homes. Several large temporary structures were also moved from their original locations. This tornado was well witnessed and video documented. Personnel at the drilling rig indicate the large tornado was nearly stationary, moving slightly east and back west before moving back east into their structure.