Tornado, Dallas
- When
- January 17, 10:33 PM CST to 10:40 PM CST
- Where
- Dallas County, De Soto
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 3 mi
- Path width
- 50 yd
- Injuries
- 1 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $750,000
- Coordinates
- 32.580, -96.850
Tornado in Texas, January 17, 1996
A supercell thunderstorm embedded within a squall line that moved through Dallas County produced 7 short track tornadoes and a downburst in the southern portion of the county. 5 million in damage to businesses, homes and public buildings.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 1
- Property damage
- $750,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS FWD wrote it up.
A supercell thunderstorm embedded within a squall line that moved through Dallas County produced 7 short track tornadoes and a downburst in the southern portion of the county. Substantial damage occurred in the Desoto and Lancaster areas with an estimated $1.5 million in damage to businesses, homes and public buildings. An in-depth damage survey revealed 7 individual tracks in Dallas County and one more in Kaufman County.Tornado number 1 developed near Westmoreland Road/Woodland Hill and lifted at the intersection of Belt Line Road and I-35 where an 18 wheeler was blown over.
The radar
The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 42 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 04:31 UTC.
Event by event
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Tornado
- A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- High Wind in Texas, January 17, 1996
- Blizzard in South Dakota, January 17 to 18, 1996
- High Wind in Kansas, January 17 to 18, 1996
- Winter Storm in Nebraska, January 17 to 18, 1996
- Tornado in Texas, January 17, 1996
- Tornado in Texas, January 17, 1996
- Blizzard in Minnesota, January 17 to 18, 1996
- Dust Storm in Arizona, January 17, 1996
- High Wind in Iowa, January 17 to 19, 1996
- High Wind in Texas, January 17 to 18, 1996
- Ice Storm in Minnesota, January 17 to 18, 1996
- Flooding in Ohio, January 17 to 23, 1996
More
Every storm in Texas in 1996Every state in 1996This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Texas, 1996Warnings in Texas, January 1996
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5535852.