Flood Warnings After moving northeast of Seymour, the tornado intensified. February 20, 2023 (92 years old) View obituary. Tornadoes are capable of completely destroying well-made structures, uprooting trees, and hurling objects through the air like deadly missiles. Amateur radio storm spotters turned in the first report of the storm, which allowed 5 to 10 minutes of valuable warning time. Pinterest. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Major damage in the. There were 59 reported tornados on the ground in the . Miss Mahon's parents and five brothers and sisters wept as the Rev. One F4 tornado impacted Vernon, Texas.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. 2 All times in Central Standard Time. As it turned out we would have driven into Vernon just before a major tragedy unfolded with injuries and death. Heavy lake effect snow, strong winds, and reduced visibilities continue downwind of the Great Lakes. Brenda Lee Whitehead. 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. The storm occurred in a largely uninhabited area, but heavily damaged a barn by unroofing it and buckling two of the barn walls outward. The 1979 tornado cut a wide path of destruction through Wichita Falls homes and apartments. A Doppler radar view of the three supercells is available. Weather and Chasing. 1 Wilbarger County, TX. A fourth tornado touched down just outside of Seymour an hour later, but again damage was comparatively minor. Around 3:05 in the afternoon, the first tornado formed near Crowell, Texas. CoCoRaHS Total damage in the city was estimated at $400 million; five thousand families (or about 20,000 people) were left homeless. Simon Cornelis Maria Vermeij was born on March 26, 1959 in Amsterdam, son of Hendrikus Gerardus Vermeij and Henritte Christina Maria Steur. Also, tornado survivors said that some golf ball size hail fell prior to and immediately after the tornado. On the first street of houses to the northeast of Lange's apartment complex, Robert Molet also photographed the approaching tornado (location #3). The electrical power to local stations was down from the storm which prevented the gas pumps from operating and us from getting more gas. 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, The suffering and destruction caused by the Wichita Falls tornado is nearly inconceivable. Storm Data, Weather Safety 5) The Wichita Falls Tornado - April 10, 1979. much of the Trans-Pecos region. Please Contact Us. 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. Aloft, the strong wind maximum was over the Red River area, producing significant vertical wind shear. The spring of 1979 was a very active tornado period for the plains states. Unsolved Death in Wichita Falls, TX. #1. Casualty data were supplied by the Texas and Oklahoma NWS offices. 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). During this time I navigated and Eddie drove. (Rated F3 by the NWS. If McNiel Junior High had been fully occupied by students and teachers at the time of the tornado, there would have been hundreds of additional casualties and many more deaths. By afternoon, the warm front had lifted to the vicinity of the Red River, and a new low pressure area had formed near Childress. Unlike Mr. Lange, Mr. Molet did not have an unobstructed view of the western horizon and did not immediately recognize that the threatening cloud was a tornado. It was roaring down the hill fairly fast and my chase partner was concerned that we couldn't get out of the path. As it moved north of Southwest Parkway, the tornado destroyed many homes in both the Western Hills Addition and the Faith Village Addition and severely damaged Ben Milam Elementary School. Forty-two people were killed outright by the storm and 3 others died as a result of heart attacks. Eddie complained, but kept fighting the wheel. Surface Maps A strong tornado damaged roofs, telephone poles, trees, uprooted shrubs and overturned a truck, but remained over open country while at peak intensity. Jeanine V. Wolff. 1 A tornado struck Waco and McLennan County on May 11, 1953, inflicting 114 deaths, 597 injuries, and damages of $4i.2 million. Some of these people attempted to run to their cars from the mall. The trees on the southwest edge of the city were denuded of limbs and bark. More. April 10, 2001 - This tornado developed on the south side of Wichita Falls at 11:46 pmCST, a short distance from Lake Wichita. The storm intercept teams noted that the tornado developed from a rotating wall cloud in the Seymour area. There were at times five separate vortices visible within the tornado. Three homes were destroyed and others were damaged. A darker version of this image shows the rain curtain extending around the vortex. Wichita Falls Buries the First of 44 Tornado Victims, https://www.nytimes.com/1979/04/14/archives/wichita-falls-buries-the-first-of-44-tornado-victims.html. ", "Storm spotter networks were alerted. Childress lay in the path of the advancing low pressure center, as surface pressure fell drastically and winds backed during the afternoon before the much drier continental air enveloped the region in the evening (Figure 17). 128 followers. One somewhat unique characteristic of the damage was the wide swath F4 damage; many violent tornadoes produce only a narrow swath of their most intense damage. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The southern supercell, the Wichita Falls storm, produced its first tornado at 1653 CST (4:53 PM) near Seymour, TX. Most of the deaths were in Wichita Falls and Vernon, Texas . 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. In the Wichita Falls area, damage occurred to ~75 homes, 15 trailer homes, high school, and numerous outbuildings. But before the day's end, three very large, devastating tornadoes swept across the area leaving scores dead and hundreds injured. The tornado has widened and intensified at this stage. The clouds in the flanking lines exploded up the back of the storm through the back-sheared anvil to the overshooting top. (Colonial Park, Hursh, Southmoor, Southwinds, and Southern Hills) A number of people tried to flee as the tornado moved along US 281 and 287 by driving east on Southwest Parkway. Upper Air Maps Just after 5:00 p.m., another tornado spawned by the same thunderstorm system crashed into Lawton, Oklahoma. We (Rated F2 by the NWS.). Wayne Collamore, View looking west about 3-4 miles east of Harrold on Highway 320 at about 4:15 pm CST. Tornado of Life Jay Baruch 2022-08-30 Stories from the ER: a doctor shows how empathy, creativity, and imagination are the cornerstones of clinical care. 25 of those deaths were vehicle related. The twister was almost a mile wide when it entered the Faith Village neighborhood on the north side of the east-west oriented Southwest Parkway. The tornado moved to the north-northwest during its life before lifting 2 miles from Burkburnett. On April 10, 1979, a huge F4 tornado touched down just outside of Wichita Falls. 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. Tornado Database Sorry, the location you searched for was not found. The Southwest National Bank Building was totally destroyed except for its concrete vault, a proxy for an above-ground shelter. The large Wichita Falls F4 tornado moving through town. Several buildings were torn apart and a cemetery was damaged. One F4 tornado impacted Vernon, Texas. On April 10, 1979, a devastating tornado struck Wichita Falls in North Texas. April 3, 1964 - A violent tornado struck the northwest section of Wichita Falls and Sheppard Air Force Base, killing 7 persons and injuring 111 other people. -56 NWS WFO, Norman, OK. by Glasstire May 2, 2017. ), March 27, 1939 - This tornado touched down north-northwest of Wichita Falls and moved northeastward into Clay County. After dark, another jet stream wind maximum moved northeastward into west central and northern Texas, sparking a second round of severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. In addition, the damage paths of all three were wider than normal. 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 sun had set, and the moon was now a crescent. A large number of cars were smashed and some people were killed along U.S. Highway 287. A number of people were also killed or injured in the parking lot of Sikes Senter (sic) Mall, also on Kemp Boulevard. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The tornado was about a half-mile wide when it struck Memorial Stadium, snapping light standards and causing heavy damage to the field house. There we hoped the dryline and warm front would intersect with a strong jet stream. The tornado exited Texas about 4 miles east of Byers, uprooting over 200 trees along the Red River. Special Weather Statements The Wichita Falls tornado formed several miles southwest of the city in Archer County, and traveled over mostly open terrain. The brick building at the water works plant was heavily damaged, and a woman suffered a broken back when her home was destroyed 3 miles south of Burkburnett. I'm surprised he got the tornado in the frame. We examined the circumstances of death and injury among victims of the tornado that struck Wichita Falls, Texas, on 10 April 1979. A wind maximum gusting to 65 knots moved over Guadalupe Peak recording station in far southwest Texas; this triggered our departure. NOAA Disaster Survey Report 80-1, Chapter 1. In addition, the author hopes that the analyses will serve as a handy source of reference to those who seek to recall the past and those whose research work attempts to relate the weather to other aspects of human existence. The second supercell spawned one that moved 74 miles (119km). Records taken from the Storm Prediction Center archive data, "Storm Data", and data from the National Weather Service office in Norman. David Ehrenfeld read the 23d Psalm over the pearl white coffin. Tours. First indications of tornado damage were near Harrold, which is located approximately 16 miles southwest of Vernon. This report summarizes the injuries and deaths associated with these tornadoes based on information from emergency department and hospital records and death certificates. 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. 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. '", "When the day had ended, the tornadoes had left in their wake a tragically high toll -- 56 dead and 1916 injured. Additional tornadoes were reported across the Southern Plains as well as in the Mississippi River Valley on April 1112. Half of the injuries sustained by Vernon residents were deemed critical by city officials. This information is part of Stamboom Vermeij by Truus Vermeij on Genealogy Online. Some or all of the walls remained for well-built homes (photos 4-6 on the damage photo tab) and bathrooms in particular provided good protection. When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. The storm killed eight people in Sandusky before moving east over Lake Erie and striking Lorain, where 72 were killed. Pat Blacklock. A home was badly damaged, losing a large portion of its front side. Satellite Imagery, Forecasts Data modified as described in NOAA Tech Memo NWS SR-209 (Speheger, D., 2001: "Corrections to the Historic Tornado Database"). |. 38 On April 10, 1979, a series of deadly tornadoes broke out near the Texas-Oklahoma border. February 16, 2023. It generally moved to the northeast, but turned to the right along the middle of its path, the period during which it produced its violent tornado. Alberty, R. A., D. W. Burgess and T. T. Fujita, 1980: Severe weather events of 10 April 1979. 8. The inner hallways would have been the only relatively safe shelter in the building. Severe Weather Safety Click on the numbers on the map below or on each individual photo to see a larger image of that photo. Special Weather Statements This tornado was part of an outbreak of tornadoes that occurred on May 25-26, 1955 across the southern Great Plains, and included the deadly F5 tornadoes at Blackwell, OK and Udall, KS. 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