Texas Tornado History - F/EF-4 and F/EF-5

[Texas Snowman]

Got to thinking that for all of the tornadoes that I've seen happen in and around Dallas/Fort Worth in my 30+ years in North Texas, I couldn't remember a single F-4 or EF-4 storm or higher.

So I did a little research and discovered the following about F/EF-4 and F/EF-5 tornadoes in Texas. I'm sure this list is incomplete, feel free to add to it.

Note: These lists were compiled from Wikipedia, The Tornado Project, NWS online records, the Texas Almanac (online), and various newspaper accounts.

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Official F5 and EF-5 Tornadoes:

- May 11, 1953 - Waco - 114 fatalities
- April 3, 1964 - Wichita Falls - 7 fatalities
- May 11, 1970 - Lubbock - 26 fatalities
- May 6, 1973 - Valley Mills - 0 fatalities
- April 19, 1976 - Brownwood - 0 fatalities
- May 27, 1997 - Jarrell - 27 fatalities



Possible/Likely F5/EF-5 Tornadoes:

- May 15, 1896 - Sherman - 73 fatalities (28 mile long track; 50 homes completely destroyed; an iron bridge was blown away by the tornado).
- May 14, 1923 - Big Spring - 23 fatalities
- April 12, 1927 - Rocksprings - 74 fatalities
- June 10, 1938 - Clyde - 14 fatalities
- April 28, 1942 - Crowell - 11 fatalities
- April 9, 1947 - Tri-State - 17 fatalities in Glazier; 51 in Higgins; 181 total fatalities in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas *** ( NOTE: This is one of the widest tornadoes on record with reports of it being up to two miles wide. One documented report says that two victims, known to be together just before the tornado hit, were discovered three miles apart after the storm. Was on the ground for 221 miles.)***
- May 1, 1954 - Crowell, Vernon - 0 fatalities
- June 8, 1995 - Kellerville - 0 fatalities

[Texas Snowman]

Notable F/EF-4 Tornadoes:

- May 18, 1902 - Goliad - 114 fatalities ***(Note: Tied w/1953 Waco Tornado as deadliest in Texas history)***
- July 5, 1905 - Montague County - 18 fatalities
- April 26, 1906 - Clay/Montague Counties - 17 fatalities
- May 30, 1909 - Zephyr/Brown County - 34 fatalities
- April 8, 1919 - Collin/Fannin Counties - 18 fatalities
- April 9, 1919 - Henderson/Van Zandt - 17 fatalities
- April 9, 1919 - Camp/Titus/Red River Counties - 24 fatalities
- April 9, 1919 - Fannin County (Trenton/Ector/Mulberry) - *** (NOTE: I'm guessing at strength; 20 fatalities (as per Dallas Morning News article)****
- May 4, 1922 - Travis County - 12 fatalities
- May 9, 1927 - Nevada/Wolfe City/Tigertown (Collin/Hunt/Lamar Counties) - 28 fatalities
- May 9, 1927 - Garland/Dallas County - 17 fatalities (destroyed much of Garland, conflicting fatality numbers including 11, 15, and 17 depending on the source)
- May 6, 1930 - Bynum/Frost/Ennis - 41 fatalities
- May 6, 1930 - Karnes/DeWitt Counties - 36 fatalities
- Jan. 4, 1946 - Palestine/Anderson County - 15 fatalities
- April 28, 1950 - Clyde - 5 fatalities
- May 18, 1951 - Olney - 4 fatalities
- March 13, 1953 - Jud to Knox City - 17 fatalities
- April 28, 1953 - Helotes/NW of San Antonio - 2 fatalities
- May 11, 1953 - Near San Angelo - 13 fatalities
- May 25, 1955 - Shamrock - 2 fatalities
- April 2, 1957 - Dallas - 10 fatalities
- May 15, 1957 - Silverton - 21 fatalities
- Nov. 7, 1957 - Port Arthur/Orange - 1 fatality
- March 31, 1959 - Aquilla/Vaughan - 6 fatalities
- Sept. 12, 1961 - Galveston - 9 fatalities
- June 2, 1965 - Spade/Plainview - 4 fatalities
- April 17, 1970 - Hale Center/Plainview - 5 fatalities
- April 17, 1970 - Dimmitt to Calude - 1 fatality
- April 18, 1970 - Palo Duro Canyon/Clarendon/Howardwick - 18 fatalities
- March 10, 1973 - Mart - 6 fatalities
- April 15, 1973 - Pearsall - 5 fatalities
- April 10, 1979 - Wichita Falls - 42 fatalities (***Note: - Wikipedia notes that Dr. Fujita is said to have indicated that the WF tornado caused as much as F5 damage on east and south sides of Wichita Falls)***
- April 10, 1979 - Rayland/Vernon - 11 fatalities
- April 2, 1982 - Paris/Reno/Blossom - 10 fatalities ***(Note: Mostly F2 and F3 damage, but some F4 damage in Paris. Also, a supercell just north of Paris spawned an F-5 that was on the ground for 53 miles. This storm was nearly 1.5 miles wide at times and a multi-vortex tornado that traversed across farmland from Lake Hugo to Valiant to Broken Bow. Amazingly, no one was killed in this storm.)***
- May 22, 1987 - Saragosa - 30 fatalities
- Nov. 21, 1992 - Houston/Liberty - 0 fatalities
- April 24, 1994 - Lancaster/Hutchins - 3 fatalities
- May 11, 1999 - Loyal Valley (Mason County) and Castell (Llano County) - One fatality

[Texas Snowman]

***Other notable storms that were given F3 ratings or have unknown ratings (some of the unknowns could be F4 or higher):

* April 28, 1893 - Cisco, Eastland County; 23 killed, 93 hurt, $400,000 damage.
* March 23, 1909 - Slidell (Wise County) - 11 fatalities
* April 13, 1921 - Melissa (Collin County)/Petty (Lamar County) - 12 killed (Melissa practically destroyed).
* Jan. 4, 1929 - near Bay City, Matagorda County; five killed, 14 hurt.
* April 24, 1929 - Slocum (Anderson County) - Seven fatalities
* March 30, 1933 - Angelina, Nacogdoches and San Augustine counties - 10 fatalities
* April 26, 1933 - Bowie County near Texarkana - Five fatalities.
* July 30, 1933 - Oak Cliff/Dallas County - Five fatalities
* May 10, 1943 - Laird Hill (Rusk County)/Kilgore (Gregg County) - Four fatalities, $1 million in damage.
* Jan. 4, 1946 - Lufkin (Angelina County) and Nacogdoches (Nacogdoches County) - 13 fatalities; 250 injured; damage $2.1 million.
* May 3, 1948 - McKinney (Collin County) - Three fatalities, $2.1 million in damages.
* May 15, 1949 - Amarillo and vicinity - six fatalities and 83 injured. Total damage from tornado, wind and hail, $5.3 million. Total destruction over one-block by three-block area in southern part of city; airport and 45 airplanes damaged; 28 railroad boxcars blown off track.
* April 6, 1955 - Sherman/Grayson County/Fannin County - long tracked F3 that killed one and injured 27.
* Dec. 13, 1984 - Balch Springs, Mesquite, Garland; all Dallas County; No fatalities, but 28 hurt, 600 homes damaged or destroyed, and $20 million damage.
* May 4, 1999 - DeKalb - No fatalities; 22 people injured; tornado did $125 million in damage as it hit the downtown district and high school.
* March 28, 2000 - Fort Worth/Arlington - No fatalities from F3 tornado; two or three fatalities from flash flooding.
* April 24, 2007 - Mexico/Eagle Pass/Rosita Valley - 10 fatalities; after the storm crossed from Mexico into Texas, it struck Rosita Valley where an elementary school and dozens of homes were demolished; more than 100 homes damaged or destroyed in all.
* May 9, 2006 - Anna/Westminster (Collin/Grayson Counties) - Rated as an F-3, killed three people, demolished some homes.

*** Not a tornado, but a perhaps the worst weather disaster in Dallas/Fort Worth history with deadly flash flooding, massive hail, and high winds causing unprecedented death and damage:

May 5, 1995: A thunderstorm moved across the Dallas/Fort Worth area with 70 mph wind gusts and rainfall rates of almost three inches in 30 minutes (five inches in one hour). Twenty people lost their lives as a result of this storm, 109 people were injured by large hail and, with more than $2 billion in damage, NOAA dubbed it the “costliest thunderstorm event in history.”

[somethingfunny]

This is excellent. It boggles my mind that the entire state of Texas, the "tornado capital of the world", hasn't had an F/EF-4 or F/EF-5 tornado since 1999. Or rather, we've never had an EF-4 or EF-5 since the Enhanced Fujita scale just came into use in 2007. It's a matter of time, but I hope it's a long time.

[Ntxw]

Very interesting, it boggles me too and hope it stays that way. Texas is large though I'm sure there has been ef-4's/5s just didn't hit anybody and probably open land somewhere in the panhandle or west Texas.

I heard on the local news that the biggest (recorded) outbreak for DFW was back and 1994 which featured that Lancaster f4 on the list. The number of tornadoes that day was impressive too for the region.

Of course everyone has heard of Jarrell, the last big one and arguably one of the most violent. Lets keep it that way.

[Texas Snowman]

Living in the Sherman/Denison area, I did note that there have been several very strong tornadoes in southern Oklahoma w/in close proximity to the Texas border.

One is the April 12, 1945 Antlers tornado, an F5 that killed 69 people and obliterated a large part of the city. Ironically enough, it happened on the same day that President Franklin D. Roosevelt died.

The tornado's path was 28 miles long; 880 yards wide; it killed; and it injured 353 people.

From the NWS/Norman: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=tornadod ... 5tornadoes

"This violent tornado was part of an outbreak of devastating severe weather and flooding that occurred in Oklahoma on April 12-15, 1945, and was one of the 5 violent twisters that hit the state on April 12th. The tornado touched down at 5:30 pm CST in about 5 miles southwest of Antlers near the Hall Community in Pushmataha County. The tornado moved to the northeast and struck Antlers, passing from the southwest corner of the town through the northeast portion. It produced a damage swath a half mile wide through both business and residential areas, and devastated about a third of the town. Some areas were swept completely clean of all debris. The tornado then continued for another 20+ miles, striking the One Creek area before dissipating near Nashoba, OK.

The tornado killed 69 persons and injured 353 more people. A total of 379 homes and 254 buildings were destroyed, and 200 more homes and buildings were damaged. Approximately 1500 people were made homeless by the tornado. Damage estimates were at $1.5 million. This tornado might have garnered more state and national media attention had it not occurred on the same day as the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt."

[Texas Snowman]

Also very, very, very interesting to note that while Oklahoma is MUCH smaller as compared to Texas, there have been 12 F5/EF-5 tornadoes in the Sooner State since 1905 as per the Norman NWS office:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=tornadod ... 5tornadoes

The most recent was last year near El Reno during the May 24, 2011 outbreak across Oklahoma that claimed 9 lives.

[Texas Snowman]

Also very interesting to me is how Oklahoma City appears to be GROUND ZERO in Tornado Alley.

Consider these facts:

• A reported 147 tornadoes have occurred in the Oklahoma City, Oklahoma area since 1890 as per Norman NWS. (See chart listing each one: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=tornadodata-okc-table )

And these facts from Norman NWS: (http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=tornadodata-okc)

•The F5 tornado that struck OKC on May 3,1999 was the deadliest (36 killed), costliest ($1 billion in damage), and most violent (first and only F5) tornado on record in the immediate OKC area.

•The second deadliest tornado occurred on June 12, 1942 (35 killed).

•The second costliest tornado occurred on March 20, 1948, with damage over $10 million mostly to aircraft at Tinker Air Force Base. The May 3, 1999 tornado thus produced roughly 100 times more damage than any other tornado on record in OKC. (This ratio actually is considerably lower if inflation is taken into account. But even with inflation, the May 3, 1999 tornado was the most costly by well over an order of magnitude.)

•Ten violent tornadoes (nine F4 and one F5) have struck the immediate OKC area. The most recent was on May 10, 2010.

•The record for tornadoes in a single day is 5, on June 8, 1974.

•The OKC area has been struck 25 times by two or more tornadoes on the same day:

1.April 25, 1893 (2)
2.May 12, 1896 (2)
3.June 21, 1942 (2)
4.March 20, 1948 (2)
5.April 30, 1949 (2)
6.April 30, 1951 (2)
7.June 3, 1956 (2)
8.April 28, 1960 (3)
9.May 21, 1961 (2)
10.August 31, 1965 (3)
11.September 19, 1965 (2)
12.June 10, 1967 (2)
13.April 30, 1970 (2)
14.June 8, 1974 (5)
15.April 30, 1978 (3)
16.March 28, 1988 (2)
17.June 13, 1998 (4)
18.May 3, 1999 (4)
19.October 22, 2000 (2)
20.May 8, 2003 (2)
21.May 9, 2003 (3)
22.November 10, 2004 (2)
23.May 7, 2008 (2)
24.February 10, 2009 (2)
25.May 10, 2010 (4)

[Texas Snowman]

As I mentioned, I live in the Sherman/Denison area. Our most recent tornado was an F2 in Denison in December 2008. Last tornado with fatalities was May 9, 2006 when an F3 touched down just NE of Anna and went through Westminster, killing 3.

There have been several very deadly tornadoes in Bryan County, just across the Red River from where I live. Those include:

* May 20, 1916 - 10 mile path, 100 yards wide; 9 fatalities; 28 injuries; near Kemp City.
* April 9, 1919 - 11 fatalities; 19 injuries; near Roberta to Durant.
* April 2, 1957 - 3 fatalities from an F4 tornado that moved from Calera (one mile north of Texas border) through Durant to just north of Durant.

Finally, the killer EF-4 that took the lives of eight people near Lone Grove, Oklahoma (Carter County) on Feb. 10, 2009 originally touched down in Montague County, Texas near Spanish Fort, moved across the Red River into Oklahoma, and later struck Lone Grove.

[somethingfunny]

Oklahoma City's weather is like DFW's weather on steroids. More tornadoes, more hail, more snow and ice, blizzards, same heat, more cold...dust storms, wildfires, floods, just everything we get but more.

I definitely remember the EF4 in Lone Grove and the 2008 Denison tornado, and the 2006 Anna-Westminster F3 tornado. Way on the other end of the state, our streak nearly ended in 2007 with the Eagle Pass tornado. It was rated EF-4 in Piedras Negras, but the streak survived because it only produced EF-3 damage on the Texas side of the river.

[Texas Snowman]

This may have been a violent tornado that crossed from Mexico over Lake Amistad and to the NW of Del Rio. Pretty amazing radar shot:

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/coolimg/del_rio/index.html

[Texas Snowman]

Speaking of Mexico, check out this twister. I'd bet this is an EF-3. Maybe more. Amazing footage for sure.

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-v ... 7710943001

[Stephanie]

Very interesting, it boggles me too and hope it stays that way. Texas is large though I'm sure there has been ef-4's/5s just didn't hit anybody and probably open land somewhere in the panhandle or west Texas.

I heard on the local news that the biggest (recorded) outbreak for DFW was back and 1994 which featured that Lancaster f4 on the list. The number of tornadoes that day was impressive too for the region.

Of course everyone has heard of Jarrell, the last big one and arguably one of the most violent. Lets keep it that way.

Jarrell was the only one I recognized, but I think because it was so violent and storm reporting has really cranked up several notches in the past decade or two and so has the internet.

[wxmann_91]

This is excellent. It boggles my mind that the entire state of Texas, the "tornado capital of the world", hasn't had an F/EF-4 or F/EF-5 tornado since 1999. Or rather, we've never had an EF-4 or EF-5 since the Enhanced Fujita scale just came into use in 2007. It's a matter of time, but I hope it's a long time.

A year and a month later...

[somethingfunny]

This is excellent. It boggles my mind that the entire state of Texas, the "tornado capital of the world", hasn't had an F/EF-4 or F/EF-5 tornado since 1999. Or rather, we've never had an EF-4 or EF-5 since the Enhanced Fujita scale just came into use in 2007. It's a matter of time, but I hope it's a long time.

A year and a month later...