Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 1985

F1 tornado, Callahan County, Texas, March 29, 1985

This F1 tornado ran 1.0 miles across Callahan County on March 29, 1985, touching down at 3:30 PM CST and reaching 30 yards wide. It killed nobody.

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 mphthis tornado

    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 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
F1
Date
March 29, 1985
Touchdown
3:30 PM CST (21:30 UTC)
Path length
1.0 miles (1.6 km)
Path width
30 yards (27 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Callahan County
Touchdown point
32.150, -99.570
Record number
40

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.

Stephenville/Cla, TX (KSEP), 12:00Z

9.5 hours before the tornado, 139 km from the path. March 29, 1985.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Stephenville/Cla, TX at 12:00Z on 1985-03-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1090 joules per kilogram, CIN -225, lifted condensation level 1203 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, Stephenville/Cla, TX at 12:00Z on 1985-03-29The 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 259 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 37 knots.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
1090 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-225 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1974 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1203 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
259 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
262 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
3.2
0-3 km lapse rate
5.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Stephenville/Cla, TX (KSEP), 00:00Z

2.5 hours after it, 139 km from the path. March 30, 1985.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Stephenville/Cla, TX at 00:00Z on 1985-03-30Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 746 joules per kilogram, CIN -33, lifted condensation level 549 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, Stephenville/Cla, TX at 00:00Z on 1985-03-30The 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 135 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 55 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
746 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-33 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1222 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
549 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
55 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
135 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
164 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.6
Supercell composite
3.1
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Abilene (ABI), 31 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
20:00 UTC7565120° 15 kt1002.7
21:00 UTC7664220° 14 kt221001.7
21:23 UTC130° 12 kt1000.7
21:37 UTC150° 15 kt1001.4
22:00 UTC6658190° 12 kt201002TSRA
22:17 UTC120° 12 kt1001
23:00 UTC6962120° 14 kt1000.7

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1985 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of March 29, 1985

5 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
March 294:20 PM CSTF0Callahan, TX0.530
March 294:30 PM CSTF0Callahan, TX0.530
March 294:35 PM CSTF0Stephens, TX0.530
March 297:45 PM CSTF0Union, KY0.510$5,000 to $50,000
March 297:55 PM CSTF0Union, KY0.510$5,000 to $50,000

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.