National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office

Summary

An outbreak of tornadic supercell thunderstorms occurred across South Texas on May 10^th, 2012 producing 16 tornadoes within an 18 hour period of time in the Corpus Christi NWS county warning area. This number of tornadoes is a record for a single day in a non tropical event for the Corpus Christiarea. Over 30 reports of damaging winds and 20 reports of large hail were also received. Storms started developing around 500 AM CDT and continued throughout the day, ending over the Gulf of Mexico after midnight. Through storm damage surveys and numerous photos and videos from storm spotters and chasers, 16 tornadoes have been identified across the area for this event. Details on each of these tornadoes is given below. Additional information on the straight line winds that occured across the Coastal Ben is also provided below.

Tornado 1:
La Salle County - EF0 - Estimated winds 80 mph

Location: 4.5 miles W Woodward to 4.7 miles WNW Millett
Start time: 9:46 AM CDT
Path Length: 10.25 miles
Path Width: 75 yards

Injuries: 2

Tornado touched down along FM 468 near Dimmit County line, flipped an 18 wheeler then proceeded northeast about 5 miles. Tornado then crossed FM 469 and struck an oil refracking flow back site flipping one RV trailer. Two people inside the RV trailer sustained serious injuries, both were released from the hospital the next day. The tornado proceeded northeast across open ranch land another 5 miles before dissipating.

Tornado 2:
Kleberg County - EF0 - Estimated winds 70 mph

Location: 4 miles W Ricardo
Start time: 12:40 PM
Path Length: approximately 0 miles
Path Width: 50 yards

Law Enforcement reported a brief tornado touch down 4 miles west of Ricardo in an open field. No damage was reported.

Tornado 3:
Live Oak County - EF0 - Estimated winds 70 mph

Location: 2.8 miles SSE Whitsett
Start time: 1:46 PM CDT
Path Length: 0 miles
Path Width: 20 yards

Spotters reported a tornado briefly touched down to the south-southeast of Whitsett.

Tornado 4:
Live Oak County - EF0 - Estimated winds 70 mph

Location: 0.5 mile WSW Whitsett
Start time: 2:04 PM CDT
Path Length: 0.8 mile
Path Width: 50 yards

Storm Chasers observed a brief tornado touch down about 1/2 mile south of Whitsett. Large trees were down, there was damage to a mobile home and a hay shed was uprooted. This damage was observed just east of Highway 281 about 1/2 mile south of Whitsett.

Tornado 5:
Live Oak County - EF0 - Estimated winds 70 mph

Location: 5 miles SE Esseville
Start time: 2:08 PM CDT
Path Length: 0.5 mile
Path Width: 50 yards

Storm Chasers observed a brief rope tornado on the ground for about 1 minute in an open field. No damage was observed.

Tornado 6:
Live Oak County - EF0 - Estimated winds 70 mph

Location: 5.3 miles SW Nell
Start time: 2:20 PM CDT
Path Length: 0 miles
Path Width: 20 yards

Spotters reported a tornado briefly touched down south of Nell.

Tornado 7:
Bee County - EF0 - Estimated winds 70 mph

Location: 3 miles SW of Pawnee
Start time: 3:56 PM CDT
Path Length: 0.33 mile
Path Width: 50 yards

Multiple Storm Chaser groups observed a brief tornado touch down about 3 miles southwest of Pawnee. The tornado touched down in an open field. No damage was observed. This tornado was captured on video and available for viewing on YouTube.

Tornado 8:
Bee County - EF0 - Estimated winds 70 mph

Location: 1.5 miles W Pawnee
Start time: 3:58 PM
Path Length: 0.33 mile.
Path Width: 50 yards.

Multiple Storm Chaser groups observed a cyclic tornadic supercell produce a brief second tornado about 1.5 miles west of Pawnee, immediately to the north of the previous tornado and from a second wall cloud. The tornado touched down in an open field. No damage was observed. This tornado was captured on Video and available for viewing on YouTube.

Tornado 9:
Bee County - EF0 - Estimated winds 80 mph

Location: 2.2 miles NW Pawnee to 1.5 miles NNW Pawnee
Start time: 4:02 PM CDT
Path Length: 1 mile
Path Width: 75 yards

Multiple Storm Chaser groups observed a third brief tornado touch down about 1/3 of a mile southwest of Pawnee and lifted about .7 miles northeast of Pawnee. The tornado touched down in an open field. No damage was observed. This tornado was captured on Video and available for viewing on YouTube.

Tornado 10:
Live Oak County - EF0 - Estimated winds 75 mph

Location: 6.5 miles SW Three Rivers
Start time: 4:10 PM CDT
Path Length: 0 miles
Path Width: 50 yards

Storm Chasers observed a brief tornado touch down about 6.5 miles southwest of Three Rivers just south of FM 1042. The tornado touched down in an open field. No damage was observed. This tornado was captured on Video and available for viewing on YouTube.

Tornado 11:
Live Oak County - EF0 - Estimated winds 75 mph

Location: 5 miles SW Clegg - 3.5 miles SSE Clegg
Start time: 7:14 PM CDT
Path Length: 5 miles
Path Width: 100 yards

Storm Chasers observed a brief tornado touch down about 3-5 miles south south of Clegg. The tornado touched down in an open field. No damage was observed. This tornado was captured on Video and is available for viewing on YouTube.

Tornado 12:
Live Oak County - EF0 - Estimated winds 70 mph

Location: 5 miles WSW Lagarto
Start time: 7:45 PM CDT
Path Length: 0.33 mile
Path Width: 50 yards

Several residents reported a tornado briefly touching down southwest of Lagarto. No damage was reported.

Tornado 13:
Nueces County - EF0 - Estimated winds 80 mph

Location: 4 miles WNW Corpus Christi to 2 miles WNW Corpus Christi
Start time: 10:20 PM CDT
Path Length: approximately 2 miles
Path Width: 75 yards

Tornado touched down in an open farm field 2 miles southeast of Corpus Christi International Airport, traveling southeast snapping utility poles in front of Clear Channel radio station. It then crossed Old Brownsville Road and destroyed a small RV trailer and damaged a metal building in an adjacent lot.

Tornado 14:
San Patricio County - EF1 - Estimated winds 90 mph

Location: 5 miles W Taft to 3.6 miles NNE Taft
Start time: 10:30 PM CDT
Path Length: 7.5 miles
Path Width: 150 yards

Tornado touched down 5 miles west northwest of Taft along Highway 181. The tornado stuck and partially collapsed a grain elevator, crossed Hwy 181 knocking over a utility pole, caused tree damage, snapped 3 utility poles as it crossed County Road 73 about 1 mile north of Taft. The tornado continued for another couple of miles passing through a subdivision in rural San Patricio County near the intersection of CR 98 and RD 77A and 77B, abouth 3 miles north northeast of Taft. An 18 wheeler was flipped, large trees were snapped and several homes were damaged in that subdivision. The tornado and then dissipated in a field shortly thereafter and before reaching CR 77.  

Tornado 15:
Refugio County - EF0 - Estimated winds 80 mph

Location: 3.5 miles NW Bayside to 1.5 miles NNE Bayside.
Start time: 10:52 PM CDT
Path Length: approximately 3 miles
Path Width: 150 yards

Tornado touched down in an open farm field east of Levien Rd and traveled east crossing Gin Rd snapping 5 utility poles and blowing the roof off a shed. The tornado dissipated before crossing FM 136 north of Bayside.

Tornado 16:
Arnasas County - EF0 - Estimated winds 70 mph

Location: 1.8 miles N Holiday Beach to 2.4 miles NNE Holiday Beach
Start time: 11:17 PM CDT
Path Length: 1.15 miles
Path Width: 50 yards

NWS storm survey concluded a weak tornado touched down in rural Aransas County north-northeast of Holiday Beach. The tornado crossed Highway 35 snapping one telephone pole.

A large metal building was partially destroyed along highway 44 about 5 miles west of Robstown.  A  car wash near in Calallen was destroyed.  There was also damage at Oil Belt Park where several light poles were snapped and a fence blown down and a small wooden structure was blown apart. Bleachers were blown up against a fence. Numerous trees and large branches were down in the Calallen and Anaville areas. An 18 wheeler was flipped on I-37 near the Clarkwood interchange. Strong winds proceeded across Nueces Bay and caused utility pole and sign damage as they crossed the Hwy 181 causeway just south of Portland and into the Ingleside community.

 

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One barn destroyed and part of the roof of an adjacent barn removed on FM 444, 13 miles south of Inez. corn crops also flattened.

 

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Radar Loops

Coastal Bend Storms: 10pm-1am (4MB)

 

Entire Event 5:30am Thurday - 1:30am Friday (1.5MB)