An aerial view shows the destructive force of a powerful tornado that swept through Wichita Falls, Texas, on April 10, 1979. The tornado blew many of those vehicles off those roadways, inflicting numerous fatalities. The lights of wichita shone bright now. Numerous other disruptive weather events, including torrential, flash-flooding rains, scattered but frequent incidents of hail, and a widespread dust and sand storm, highlighted April, an unusually wet but seasonably mild month for most Texans. Winds gusted the 93 miles per hour (mph) in Guadalupe Mountain National Park at mid-afternoon, while wind gusts of 60 mph or more stirred up dust and sand that reduced visibilities at many points from El Paso to Midland to 3 miles; at Lubbock visibilities dropped to 1 1/2 miles by late afternoon. This report is an attempt to describe thoroughly but concisely the noteworthy elements of the Texas weather scene throughout 1979. Widespread downburst winds and hail brought damages of $200,000 to the town of Iowa Park alone. A storm appeared on the horizon that had developed far to our south near Abilene. Hail the size of golf balls preceded the touchdown and continued for approximately 15 minutes. The Red River Valley Tornado Outbreak, one of the most significant outbreaks on record for this region, occurred on April 10, 1979. The width of the F4 damage in the Wichita Falls tornado approached 0.5 miles in the area of Faith Village and Ben Milam Elementary School (location #6). This storm appeared insignificant compared to what we had seen so we drifted southwest in search of something better. The third supercell was the one that formed the Seymour and Wichita Falls tornadoes as part of a three-member tornado family. The formation of the tornado and its movement toward the stadium and junior high were captured by Wolfgang Lange from the front of his apartment complex which was located across the street from the junior high (location #2). The storm's second tornado, the terrible Wichita Falls tornado, formed at 1755 CST (5:55 PM) to the southwest of the city and moved through the southern and eastern sides of Wichita Falls shortly after 1800 CST (6:00 PM). One tree near a house fell onto a power line, causing an electrical surge that set the kitchen of the house on fire. Witnesses saw several small twisters during the formation. Each parallelogram on the map below represents the approximate aerial coverage shown in each photo. Overall, the outbreak produced nearly 30 tornadoes and a large number of damaging wind and severe hail reports. The following images and text copyright Gene Moore unless otherwise indicated. It didn't seem like any storms were in the area. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. - May 31st, 2010 . NWS About Our Office On the first street of houses to the northeast of Wolfgang Lange's apartment complex, Robert Molet also photographed the approaching tornado (Tornado Track Figure; Location #3). During this time I navigated and Eddie drove. Several deaths in the Vernon tornado occurred because persons were caucht in autcmobiles that were tossed For example, the police chief called the city manager out of a meeting with county commissioners. Aloft, the strong wind maximum was over the Red River area, producing significant vertical wind shear. Thus, he stood in his backyard driveway and photographed the destruction of the apartment complex and the beginning of destruction in his neighborhood. ), June 6, 1936 - A "double twister" was observed by a large gathering of people in Burkburnett as it moved southwest and struck the southwest edge of the city. A deepening low pressure system formed in Colorado as a warm front lifted north pulling warm, moist, unstable air. -11 Wilbarger County, TX. It is estimated that 5,000 families, containing 20,000 residents, were left homeless in Wichita Falls. Severe Thunderstorm Warnings To put the deaths and property damage in perspective, it should be noted that as many as 42 people have not been killed in the United States by a single tornado in the 20 years since the event, and the total property damage of $400,000,000 still stands as the most costly tornado in American history. Our path across the Red River was always through Lawton; then we usually took a short cut on OK 36 and OK 5 through open wheat country to Fredrick and Vernon. The event would put Wichita Falls in the national news and history books, while almost taking it off of the map. (Rated F2 by the NWS.). Some of these people attempted to run to their cars from the mall. In this stage, the tornado did extensive damage just south of Dean and near Byars, destroying a large number of rural homes, but causing no more fatalities. On the first street of houses to the northeast of Lange's apartment complex, Robert Molet also photographed the approaching tornado (location #3). One group of violent thunderstorms roared across the northern Low Rolling Plains late that afternoon and spawned a series of tornadoes that ripped through four Texas communities. We examined the circumstances of death and injury among victims of the tornado that struck Wichita Falls, Texas, on 10 April 1979. The tornado's first fatalities were recorded in the apartment complex and adjoining housing area. Two trailers were destroyed, and three homes were damaged. The tornado slung mud across the inside of the windshield which made it difficult to drive. Members of the Wichita Falls Repeater Club Weather Spotters manned their pre-planned command post on the NWS Office (WSO) and deployed radio-equipped members to vantage points that assured good observation coverage southwest of the city. FU F0 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 0 10 19 . To commemorate this event, the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma has compiled a large amount of information including: tornado photos of the Wichita Falls, Vernon, Seymour, and Harrold, TX tornadoes; damage photos; images of radar and satellite data; other maps and diagrams of the event; and storm data for Oklahoma and western north Texas. It is interesting to note that the Seymour and Wichita Falls tornadoes both formed during periods of relative decline in storm-top height and reflectivity values, a characteristic that has been noted for a number of supercell storms that have produced several cycles of tornadoes. Still other tornadoes struck the communities of Lockett and Seymour a short time later, killing one inhabitant in Lockett. The tornado continued into Clay County, resulting in no deaths, but 40 additional injuries. The formation of the tornado and its movement toward the Memorial Stadium and McNiel Junior High School were captured by Wolfgang Lange from the front of his apartment complex which was across the street from school building (Tornado Track Figure; Location #2). The Red River Valley Tornado Outbreak of 10 April 1979 Location Help Wintry and Cold Conditions Continue Across Much of the U.S. Three people were injured. On that day, at least 13 separate tornadoes touched down in the Texas/Oklahoma area, striking Wichita Falls, Vernon, Seymour, and a number of other towns. The highly unsettled atmosphere out ahead of the advancing dry air is illustrated by the sounding taken at Stephenville just as the gargantuan tornado was hitting Wichita Falls; the lowest 300 mb of the atmosphere was highly convectively unstable (Figure 24). The video includes survivor accounts and safety information. This was the most spectacular event I had ever witnessed to date. Usually hail is a problem in this position, but we encountered none on this storm. Please select one of the following: Table 1 -- Casualty and Property Losses -, GOES Visible Satellite Images (1530Z 4/10/1979 - 0014Z 4/11/1979), GOES Infrared Satellite Images (0000Z - 0600Z 4/11/1979). It sped into Clay County, causing no deaths but 40 injuries and damage in the communities of Dean and Petrolia that amounted to $15 million. Hail to 1.75 inches was also reported south of the city. Six cross-country steel transmission towers were destroyed just east of Farm Road 2650. Tornado caused $3,500,000 to the downtown business district in. Rob Satkus EF2. Please Contact Us. The tornado leveled a mobile home park on the north side of U.S. Highway 287, but residents had evacuated that area and no fatalities occurred in the park. The most notable tornado was another F4 tornado that destroyed most of the southern part of Wichita Falls, Texas, and is commonly referred to as "Terrible Tuesday" by many meteorologists. ), May 9, 1951 - A supercell thunderstorm produced a small, narrow tornado that moved east-northeastward along a 5-mile path from Iowa Park to near Wichita Falls. Thread starter Rob Satkus; Start date Apr 8, 2009; Forums. Tornado Database Upper Air Maps On that spring day, three large supercell storms developed, each producing a series of tornadoes that moved quickly across the northern Texas and southern Oklahoma plains. About Our Office Several apartment complexes and many homes were destroyed, with several of the first deaths occurring in this area. While the leading edge of the moist, tropical air had already surged northward across the Red River, giving Wichita Falls a vigorous southeasterly wind and a climbing dew point (Figure 16), the advancing edge of much drier, continental air swept eastward out of the High Plains and undercut the less dense and more moist tropical air. Submit a Spot Forecast Additional tornadoes were reported across the Southern Plains as well as in the Mississippi River Valley on April 1112. 1964, and another in 1979. Minor damage occurred to some fences and the area. We continued to drive east on a dirt road from Mabelle, Texas which is basically an intersection with a couple of old buildings. The tornado expanded in size as it crossed Southwest Parkway, throwing automobiles about and leveling a number of businesses, including a bank and a fire station. Barns were destroyed and livestock was killed, including horses on two farms. Local Storm Reports Wolfgang Lange, View looking southwest near Memorial Stadium in Wichita Falls, Texas at the approaching tornado. On April 10, 1979, a devastating tornado struck Wichita Falls in North Texas. Dissipation of the tornado occurred northwest of Waurika, Oklahoma, bringing the path length to 36 miles in Texas, and 11 miles in Oklahoma. It damaged several homes and businesses before going into Wichita Falls where it . From the blizzards that traditionally pound the Panhandle each winter to the enduring heat that scorches vast sections of Texas later in the summer, Texas in the meteorological sense truly is the "Land of Contrast." As seen in the photographs by Winston Wells (Tornado Track Figure; Location #10), the tornado became multi-vortex, displaying as many as five satellite vortices rotating around the center of circulation. Earlier on the same day, several tornadoes hit farther west. those all. National Weather Service Questions? All but one of the 12 large glass windows in the tower were blown out, and control tower personnel had only abandoned their tower posts 4 minutes before. The Ohio National Guard was dispatched to the scene within nine hours to help with rescue work, caring for . Approximately 30 houses in the addition were damage with some houses suffering extensive damage. Tours. Eleven of the 16 people left homes that were not even damaged. Total damage in the city was estimated at $400 million; five thousand families (or about 20,000 people) were left homeless. Skywarn Storm Spotters The half-mile wide tornado crossed the Red River into Oklahoma about 9 miles north-northeast of Electra. Wichita Falls, Texas, on April 10, 1979. When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. Skywarn Storm Spotters Other data was found using U.S. A powerful tornado tore through the Wichita, Kansas, area Friday night, leveling dozens of structures in the city of Andover, according to officials. . Sorry, the location you searched for was not found. Fortunately, its long path on the ground was mostly over open farmland so that it caused relatively few casualties and small total property damage. The Wichita Falls tornado, with how black . That said, it's never mentioned just how that wind gust was recorded, and . In the early afternoon hours, three supercell thunderstorms formed. 1970s. (1979-2009) The Red River Valley Tornado. All the storms this day exhibited violent cloud motions. He shot these images one handed while driving down a dirt road. We also assessed the protective measures taken by a representative sample of community residents who suffered no major injury in order to estimate the relative risk of injury to people directly in the tornado's path . The tornado then crossed over Kemp Boulevard and destroyed several commercial businesses, including a restaurant, resulting in several additional fatalities. The following images and text have been provided by permission of the author are to be used for informational purposes only. A detailed mapping of each house and public/commercial building in the city led to the construction of an F-scale map. High winds in Burkburnett toppled several large trees and damaged limbs, signs, and fences throughout town. It was produced in 1984 and has a run time of 19 minutes, 30 seconds. Two barns were also destroyed and scattered across a field. A mattress fell beside the vehicle and I looked out to see a woman standing in what appeared to be a junk yard. Several vehicles, including a bus, were flipped and tossed. Most of the destroyed homes had some of these interior walls still standing after the tornado. No explanation for the unusually low reflectivity values with that phase of the storm (sensed by several radars) has been developed. Please select one of the following: Local Enhanced Radar (Central Oklahoma-KTLX), Local Standard Radar (KTLX-low bandwidth), Local Enhanced Radar (Southwest OK/Western North TX-KFDR), Local Standard Radar (KFDR-low bandwidth), Local Standard Radar (KVNX-low bandwidth), Averages and Records for OKC, Wichita Falls & Lawton, NOAA Tech Memo NWS SR-209 (Speheger, D., 2001: "Corrections to the Historic Tornado Database"), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Near Kamay - Wichita Valley Airport - Sheppard AFB, NW Wichita Falls (FM-369/ Seymour Highway)- Sheppard AFB, Wichita Falls (near Midwestern University), 3 ENE Holliday- Wichita Falls- 4 E Byers- NNE of Waurika OK, Wichita Falls (4 SSW - 1 E center of town). Wichita Falls has had three major tornado strikes in its history. Life Cycle of the Wichita Falls Tornadic Storm. Elizabeth Burk Newton. The publication was written and prepared by George W. Bomar of Weather Modification & Technology Section of the Texas Department of Water Resources. Today. Total damage in Wichita Falls was estimated at $400 million (in 1979 dollars). Eight persons were killed outside, 4 were killed in homes or apartments, and 4 others died in public buildings. Inside the mall, portions of the JC Penney store collapsed while other stores sustained light to moderate damage. Final totals across three states were 181 killed and 970 injured. These are 40 before/after pairings, as he shot dramatically injured locations . The 1979 tornado cut a wide path of destruction through Wichita Falls homes and apartments. Fire Weather The tornado then crossed a short span of open fields before moving into the Colonial Park area. Then the supercell spawned one that killed three people in Lawton, Oklahoma. The police chief and sheriff later said the approaching storm did not look like a normal twister, but appeared as a thick, dark mass of clouds low to the ground and difficult to see because of the heavy rain, hail, and low cloud base. Several homes were demolished, and a number of barns were partially destroyed. Wind gusts to 100 mph were observed at the observation site. Aerial Reconnaissance photos- Source Don Burgess; Credit: NASA, Mission 399; Roll: #3; Film Type: 50-397; Frames: 041 to 050; Date: 4/12/1979, Damage photos - Source: Don Burgess; Credit: NSSL; Institute for Disaster Research, at Texas Tech University, Harrold, TX photos - Credit: Wayne Collamore, Doppler Radar images - Source: Don Burgess; Credit: NSSL, Satellite images - Source: Dennis McCarthy, Former MIC, NWSFO OUN; Credit: NOAA/NWS. Three houses were destroyed and several others were damaged. (Rated F2 by the NWS. To age through the southern half of tne city. Tornado tore a large section of roof from an elementary school near. Undoubtedly, this earlier warning and the afternoon Vernon tornado had primed the Wichita Falls populace to the threat of additional tornado activity. Property damage in the affected areas included 225 homes destroyed, with 50 homes suffering major damage, 200 homes incurring minor damage, and 16 other building receiving major damage. Updated: Feb. 23, 2023 at 7:25 AM PST. The tornado then weakened slightly, but remained at F3 intensity, destroying the Sun Valley housing area, the Sunnyside Heights Mobile Home Park, and several large commercial businesses, including the Levi Strauss Plant, before exiting the east side of town. Suite 2400Norman, OK 73072(405) 325-3816Comments? More destruction from the Wichita Falls tornado, Last edited on 25 February 2023, at 02:48, List of North American tornadoes and tornado outbreaks, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Wichita Falls, TX Tornadoes (1900-Present)", "The Red River Valley Tornado Outbreak of 10 April 1979", "Normalized Damage from Major Tornadoes in the United States: 18901999", 10.1175/1520-0434(2001)016<0168:NDFMTI>2.0.CO;2, The Red River Valley Tornado Outbreak of April 10, 1979, Full map of the 1979 Red River Valley tornado outbreak, 47miles.org - A project to construct a memorial to the Wichita Falls tornado, Terrible Tuesday - Wichita Falls, Texas Tornado 1979, Terrible Tuesday (1979) Red River Valley Tornado Outbreak, Terrible Tuesday: April 10, 1979 in Wichita Falls, Texas, Coming Back: Wichita Falls, TX Tornado - April 10, 1979 KAUZ-TV, Bridge Creek, Moore, & Oklahoma City (Metro), OK, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1979_Red_River_Valley_tornado_outbreak&oldid=1141443347. The electrical power to local stations was down from the storm which prevented the gas pumps from operating and us from getting more gas. There we hoped the dryline and warm front would intersect with a strong jet stream. It was a large, but distant funnel that may have been the beginning of the horrific tornado that moved through that city. The NOAA Natural Disaster Report 80-1, "The Red River Valley Tornadoes of April 10, 1979" is available, and a synopsis and discussion of the event by Don Burgess can also be perused from this site. Precipitation was to our west through southwest and wrapped around the tornado. The storm that produced an EF-4 tornado a mile wide would ultimately leave over fifty people dead, displace one fifth of Wichita Falls' population, and change the landscape of our city forever. Fortunately, the tornado moved through rural areas and did not affect any housing at this stage. As the tornado neared the road it began to shrink in size and slowed a little, aiding our hasty retreat. A dry line had formed from the Childress low southward, and temperatures had become very warm in west Texas. Non Precipitation Warnings Tornadoes are capable of completely destroying well-made structures, uprooting trees, and hurling objects through the air like deadly missiles. In addition, approximately 140 mobile homes were destroyed, two schools were demolished and 11 others sustained serious damage. Caused over $300,000 in damage to homes, barns, and a rock crushing plant. The most active portion of the advancing dry line traversed this sector of the Low Rolling Plains at precisely the time of occurrence of the tornado outbreak (Figure 19). [8] The tornado cut a path 8 miles (13km) through the city, with significant devastation. Damage also occurred to machinery, homes, and outbuildings. Touch device users, explore by touch or with swipe gestures. Heavy lake effect snow, strong winds, and reduced visibilities continue downwind of the Great Lakes. ), June 6, 1936 - A tornado touched down at 5:20 pm CST and moved southeastward over a path of 440 yards wide by four miles long caused damage of $50,000 in Wichita Falls and injured two people, although one person may have been hurt due to a lightning strike. Small buildings were damaged or destroyed, and roofs, signs, oil field derricks and tanks were damaged. Local Enhanced Radar (Central Oklahoma-KTLX), Local Standard Radar (KTLX-low bandwidth), Local Enhanced Radar (Southwest OK/Western North TX-KFDR), Local Standard Radar (KFDR-low bandwidth), Local Standard Radar (KVNX-low bandwidth), Averages and Records for OKC, Wichita Falls & Lawton, radar-derived storm tops exceeded 50,000 feet and reflectivities were higher than 50 dBZ, a core of greater than 50 dBZ and two mesocyclones, tornado-associated mesocyclone and hook echo in the right rear portion of the echo, its movement toward the stadium and junior high, >many cars in the mall parking lot were blown some distance and stacked on top of each other, Map of the Red River Valley Tornado Outbreak in North Texas and southern Oklahoma by (Fujita and Wakimoto), Map of Significant Weather Events which occurred between 6 AM CST April 10, 1979 and 6 AM CST April 11, 1979 (Burgess), Tornado Watch Box #67 issued by the National Severe Storms Forecast Center - valid 230 PM to 700 PM CST, April 10, 1979, Storm Track of the Wichita Falls, Texas Supercell on April 10, 1979 (Burgess), Time/Height Profile of the Wichita Falls, Texas Supercell on April 10, 1979 (Burgess), Map of Radar Reflectivity and Mesocyclone Positions of the Wichita Falls, Texas Supercell at 530 pm CST, April 10, 1979 (Burgess), Map of Radar Reflectivity and Mesocyclone Position of the Wichita Falls, Texas Supercell at 600 pm CST, April 10, 1979 (Burgess), Approximate Damage Path of the Wichita Falls Tornado on April 10, 1979 (, Map of the Red River Valley Area of Oklahoma and Texas Showing Communities and Counties Affected by the April 10, 1979 Tornadoes (NOAA Natural Disaster Report 80-1), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 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