wichita falls tornado 1979 deaths

At the surface, an already strong low pressure area in southeast Colorado was beginning to deepen further, and a warm front was starting to lift northward from central Texas. (Rated F1 by the NWS. A total of 10 people received injuries due to the high winds. After taking his last picture of the approaching tornado, Mr. Lange retreated to the apartment complex laundry room and hid between heavy commercial washers and dryers, escaping with only minor injuries. The tornado was also captured on film by Troy Glover from the roof of the Bethania hospital (location #8). Major damage in the. Six barns and two homes were destroyed. those all. Neighbors took shelter together while federal and local groups assembled. April 26, 1991. Several homes were demolished, and a number of barns were partially destroyed. ", "To the people of the Red River Valley in Texas and Oklahoma, nothing about the weather appeared unusual during the early hours of April 10, 1979: it was business as usual. The Vernon tornado destroyed a restaurant, motel, a farm implement store, and more than a dozen homes; damage totaled $27 million. Satellite Imagery, Forecasts It's the day an F-4 tornado ravaged the city of Wichita Falls. Forecast Discussion, Warnings and Other Products Beyond that point, three more tornadoes were spawned with the fifth and last tornado doing severe damage to the southern portion of Lawton, OK (three fatalities). The twister did level a number of telephone poles along Highway 283, before dissipating just east of 283 near Maybelle. The tornado developed on the extreme northeast side of Seymour and moved northeast to about 2 miles north-northeast of Maybelle. A furniture warehouse was also destroyed when severe winds tore the back wall and roof off of the building. One person was injured. . 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. 16 of those 25 vehicle related deaths were from people leaving their homes to escape the. It began at 4:57 p.m. about a mile-and-a-half south of Clearwater. Fortunately, no one was killed or injured by the tornado. The tornado then moved east-northeast into the Western hills neighborhood, south of Southwest Parkway. Life Cycle of the Wichita Falls Tornadic Storm. Damage to city property totaled $5 million while Sheppard AFB had $10 million in damages. Rob Satkus EF2. Three people were killed in the restaurant. The Red River Valley Tornado Outbreak of 10 April 1979 Location Help Wintry and Cold Conditions Continue Across Much of the U.S. The Wichita Falls tornado of April 10, 1979 was one of thirteen tornadoes which rampaged across parts of north Texas and Oklahoma that "Terrible Tuesday." This over one mile-wide beast. This image was taken as the tornado widened and approached our position. Three isolated supercells, forming in mid afternoon, moved northeastward as a trio and were responsible for the worst part of the outbreak. Thus, the tornado damage/intensity was officially rated as a strong F4 tornado. This storm appeared insignificant compared to what we had seen so we drifted southwest in search of something better. Thunderstorm winds blew a sheet metal roof off a horse barn just east of Sheppard Air Force Base, tore off part of the roof of a radio station 6 miles southwest of Wichita Falls, tore a patio roof off a house in Wichita Falls. US Dept of Commerce The tornado's worst winds generally missed the Sikes Senter Shopping Mall to the South, but a few of the stores were heavily damaged and many cars in the mall parking lot were blown some distance and stacked on top of each other. The intense damage averaged between one quarter and one half of a mile in width. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. On April 3, 1964, a devastating F5 tornado hit the northern region of Wichita Falls and Sheppard Air Force Base. Elizabeth was born on January. 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). All the storms this day exhibited violent cloud motions. 8. Thus, he stood in his backyard driveway and photographed the destruction of the apartment complex and the beginning of destruction in his neighborhood. Further to the northeast we could see a very large tornado with reddish suction spots rotating about the circulation. Hail the size of golf balls preceded the touchdown and continued for approximately 15 minutes. The following severe weather account is by Gene Moore. Select western north Texas tornado statistics by decade, county or city from the menus or maps below. As the first violent tornado on record to hit the Wichita Falls area, [18] it left seven dead and more than 100 injured. Homes were unroofed and barns were destroyed. Here we goa hymn request from Erlene: Great Is His Faithfulness, sung by the Collingsworth Family. After crossing U.S. Highway 281, the twister then struck the Sun Valley neighborhood and destroyed additional homes, apartments, and businesses on the south side of U.S. Highway 287. ), April 20, 1951 - A small, brief tornado touched down near Wichita Falls and was accompanied by light hail. Historic data, especially before 1950, are likely incomplete. FU F0 F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 0 10 19 . Tornado left suction vortex marks in open fields. Tornado Warnings, Climate and Past Weather Questions? Museum of the Kansas National Guard . Preprints, 12th Conference Severe Local Storms, American Meteorological Society, Boston, 441-443. 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 . Forecast Discussion, Warnings and Other Products The tornado slung mud across the inside of the windshield which made it difficult to drive. Aloft, the strong wind maximum was over the Red River area, producing significant vertical wind shear. Wolfgang Lange. The destructive and deadly tornado outbreak impacted the Red River Valley on April 10, 1979. 6. The most recent exceptionally destructive storm to hit the Wichita Falls area occurred on April 3, 1964, when a tornado killed 7 people, injured 111, and caused $15 million in damages, including 225 homes that were completely destroyed. The tornado then swept through the Southmoor area, destroying homes and a shopping center. The April 10, 1979, tornado that hit Wichita Falls is the state's fifth-deadliest and one of the largest in U.S. history. In the upper atmosphere, the nose of an extremely strong jet stream wind maximum was moving eastward through northern Mexico, preparing to turn northeastward and take aim on Texas and Oklahoma. Multiple locations were found. Apr 8, 2009 #1 NWS OUN has put up a nice page for the 30th anniversary of this monster: . Tornado was well documented on film and by NSSL storm researchers. Ingredients for a devastating severe weather event were beginning to come together on the morning of April 10. Using spotter and radar reports, Lawton officials sounded the siren system to warn the people of the approaching storm. Each parallelogram on the map below represents the approximate aerial coverage shown in each photo. Several trailers were destroyed. 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). During this time I navigated and Eddie drove. The night time tornadoes, although strong, were not as devastating as the ones that occurred in the Red River Valley during the afternoon. (Documented and rated F2 by Grazulis. Some of these people had stopped their cars under an overpass on the highway, seeking shelter from the storm. The Wichita Falls area has been visited by tornadoes many times over the course of its history. Tornado caused $3,500,000 to the downtown business district in. The tornado then crossed over Kemp Boulevard and destroyed several commercial businesses, including a restaurant, resulting in several additional fatalities. Nationwide, Current Conditions Wichita Falls(/wtt/WITCH-i-tah) is a city in and the seat of governmentof Wichita County, Texas, United States. 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." ", "At Vernon, reports of earlier damage to the southwest of the city had alerted spotters and city officials. The publication was written and prepared by George W. Bomar of Weather Modification & Technology Section of the Texas Department of Water Resources. At about the time the tornado was developing at Harrold, 1.5 to 3 inch diameter hailstones were reported 7 miles west of Harrold. The spring of 1979 was a very active tornado period for the plains states. No one was killed and only several major injuries occurred among the approximately one thousand shoppers who were in the mall. (Documented and rated F2 by Grazulis. Winter Weather Warnings I survived an enormous North Texas twister on April 10, 1979 that took 52 lives when three vortexes merged into one. A total of 2 people were seriously injured along the tornado's path, but most of injuries people received were minor. As a result of the early warning, the casualty list of 3 dead and 109 injured was relatively small despite the destruction of several hundred homes and businesses. 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. After dark, another jet stream wind maximum moved northeastward into west central and northern Texas, sparking a second round of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. Rampaging killer tornadoes and devastating floodwaters brought unparalleled tragedy to groups of communities in the Low Rolling Plains and the Upper Coast of Texas during April. We were rushed to get into position. Evan got up, the moonlight bouncing off his not so wicked blue eyes. No explanation for the unusually low reflectivity values with that phase of the storm (sensed by several radars) has been developed. No damage was reported from this small, weak tornado and it was rated F0. During this period, large hail was occurring in the central and northern portions of Wichita Falls as the tornado devastated the southern portion of the city. On April 10, 1979, a huge F4 tornado touched down just outside of Wichita Falls. The 1979 tornado cut a wide path of destruction through Wichita Falls homes and apartments. Stones as large as two inches were reported further to our northeast. The passage of a violent tornado through an 8-mile section of a city is an almost unheard-of natural disaster. About the time the tornado entered town, it changed appearance, becoming one large black cloud of condensation and debris. Please try another search. The tornado cut through a field and went into a housing addition on the southwest edge of Sheppard AFB. As it turned out we would have driven into Vernon just before a major tragedy unfolded with injuries and death. Golfball-size hail fell prior to and immediately after the tornado passed along a track that took it into Oklahoma (where it dissipated near Waurika). This huge F4 first touched down about 3 miles northeast of Holliday. The moonlight felt like a reminder of the pain and sorrow that awaited him as he stared at its yellow haze. 1. Rain was beginning to rotate totally around the funnel at this time and the tornado was producing an audible roar so loud it was hard to communicate. Fortunately, the tornado moved through rural areas and did not affect any housing at this stage. Forty-two people were killed outright by the storm, while 3 others died of heart attacks. The tornado was coming down, but getting photography was difficult. The tornado originated from a weak thunderstorm with a radar top of only 16,000 feet. We proceeded southwest toward Seymour witnessing a small tornado near Lake Kemp that was accompanied by golf ball size hail. 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