Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 1970

F5 Lubbock tornado, Texas, May 11, 1970

This F5 tornado ran 8.4 miles across Lubbock County on May 11, 1970, touching down at 9:35 PM CDT and reaching 1,333 yards wide. It killed 26 people and injured 500, and did $50 million to $500 million of property damage.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mph

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mphthis tornado

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
F5
Date
May 11, 1970
Touchdown
9:35 PM CDT (02:35 UTC)
Path length
8.4 miles (13.5 km)
Path width
1,333 yards (1219 m)
Deaths
26
Injuries
500
Property damage
$50 million to $500 million
County
Lubbock County
Touchdown point
33.550, -101.900
Lift-off point
33.600, -101.770
Record number
188

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), 00:00Z

2.6 hours before the tornado, 184 km from the path. May 12, 1970.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Midland Regional, TX at 00:00Z on 1970-05-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1220 joules per kilogram, CIN -15, lifted condensation level 2700 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Midland Regional, TX at 00:00Z on 1970-05-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 25 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 27 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1220 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-15 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2637 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2700 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
25 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
93 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
2.1
0-3 km lapse rate
9.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), 12:00Z

9.4 hours after it, 184 km from the path. May 12, 1970.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 1970-05-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1125 joules per kilogram, CIN -342, lifted condensation level 1491 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 1970-05-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 91 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 24 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
1125 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-342 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1799 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1491 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
24 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
91 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
88 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.2
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Lubbock International Airport (LBB), 10 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
00:00 UTC8850170° 15 kt1004.4
01:00 UTC8656150° 21 ktTS
02:00 UTC7163120° 13 kt291009.8TS SHRA
03:00 UTC6358150° 37 kt1006.1TSRAPL

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1970 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 11, 1970

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 113:15 PM PDTF0Wasco, OR0.110
May 116:20 PM CDTF0Lincoln, KS0.110
May 117:15 PM CDTF1Lincoln, KS1.0200$5,000 to $50,000
May 117:30 PM CDTF1Saline, KS0.110
May 119:00 PM CDTF1Crosby, TX1.027$50 to $500

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.