Tornado, Dallas
- When
- October 21, 8:35 AM CST to 8:37 AM CST
- Where
- Dallas County, Dallas
- Rating
- F1
- Path length
- 0.5 mi
- Path width
- 50 yd
- Injuries
- 7 direct, 0 indirect
- Property damage
- $3.0 million
- Coordinates
- 32.770, -96.780
Tornado in Texas, October 21, 1996
A tornado ripped portions of the roof off an apartment complex, damaged 225 apartment units and injured 7 people. Serious damage occurred to cars and buildings due to flying debris.
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
- 7
- Property damage
- $3.0 million
- 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 tornado ripped portions of the roof off an apartment complex, damaged 225 apartment units and injured 7 people. Serious damage occurred to cars and buildings due to flying debris. A mobile home was blown into the road.
The radar
The Dallas/Ft Worth radar (KFWS), 54 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 14:36 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
- Flash Flood in Maine, October 21 to 23, 1996
- Wildfire in California, October 21 to 27, 1996
- Wildfire in California, October 21 to 25, 1996
- Flash Flood in Massachusetts, October 21, 1996
- Wildfire in California, October 21, 1996
- Flash Flood in Maine, October 21 to 22, 1996
- Flash Flood in New Hampshire, October 21 to 22, 1996
- Hail in Texas, October 21, 1996
- Flash Flood in New Hampshire, October 21, 1996
- Hail in Texas, October 21, 1996
- Tornado in Texas, October 21, 1996
- Damaging Wind in Texas, October 21, 1996
More
Every storm in Texas in 1996Every state in 1996This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Texas, 1996Warnings in Texas, October 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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5572098.