Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 1979

F2 tornado, Jefferson County, Texas, October 22, 1979

This F2 tornado ran 1.0 miles across Jefferson County on October 22, 1979, touching down at 5:44 AM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $500,000 to $5 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 mphthis tornado

    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 mph

    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
F2
Date
October 22, 1979
Touchdown
5:44 AM CDT (10:44 UTC)
Path length
1.0 miles (1.6 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$500,000 to $5 million
County
Jefferson County
Touchdown point
30.070, -94.220
Record number
813

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.

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 00:00Z

10.7 hours before the tornado, 98 km from the path. October 22, 1979.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 1979-10-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1717 joules per kilogram, CIN -10, lifted condensation level 737 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, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 00:00Z on 1979-10-22The 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 46 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 33 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
1717 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-10 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3085 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
737 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
33 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
10 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
46 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
84 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.5
Supercell composite
4.3
0-3 km lapse rate
6.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Lake Charles Mun, LA (KLCH), 12:00Z

1.3 hours after it, 98 km from the path. October 22, 1979.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 1979-10-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2222 joules per kilogram, CIN -11, lifted condensation level 665 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, Lake Charles Mun, LA at 12:00Z on 1979-10-22The 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 126 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 35 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
2222 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-11 J/kg
Surface CAPE
2720 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
665 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
25 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
126 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
183 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.9
Supercell composite
9.5
0-3 km lapse rate
4.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1979 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of October 22, 1979

6 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
October 224:30 AM CDTF1Lee, IA0.560$50,000 to $500,000
October 226:15 AM CDTF1Hardin, TX0.110$5,000 to $50,000
October 228:00 AM CDTF1Clinton, IL2.030$5,000 to $50,000
October 228:40 AM CDTF1Chicot, AR1.57712$5,000 to $50,000
October 2210:15 AM CDTF2Calcasieu Parish, LA1.050011$500,000 to $5 million
October 2210:30 AM CDTF2Cameron Parish, LA1.05506$500,000 to $5 million

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.