No, not HIGHLY unusual. We've had many warm or mixed Winter January's before.

They are most common in Texas in April though.

Areas along the Gulf Coast will often get tornadoes in the winter, and they can be expected in any state that has a gulf shoreline. Typically it doesn't get the mixture of cold and warm moist air needed for the rotation to develop, but once in a while, a cold front will push south and cause havoc.

For the majority of Texas, it is unusual, but not for an area close to the Gulf.

With that in mind, a cold front that brought snow to unusually low latitudes in west Texas today is pushing eastward, so there may be more scary storms in the offing, all the way to Georgia and Florida, so head's up.

there were two other tornadoes. one passed near a friend of mines house.

it's definitely very unusual. i've lived in texas most of my life and i don't recall hearing of any in january. not that they have never happened.... it's just very out of the ordinary.

Us here in the Gulf Coast states can get tornadoes on any day of the year and it is not unusual. Texas City is in Galveston County which is right on the coast so, as I had said, this is completely normal. Back in 2008 here on the east coast of Florida we had a “Midwestern style super cell” for Christmas then tornadoes again on January 1, 2009. To people north of ‘Dixie’ this seems incredibly bizarre but to us in the region it is not a strange occurrence. From Corpus Christi north to Shreveport and east to Jacksonville can get tornadoes any time of the year without it being abnormal.