Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 1988

F1 tornado, Rains County, Texas, November 15, 1988

This F1 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Rains County on November 15, 1988, touching down at 5:19 PM CST and reaching 10 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
November 15, 1988
Touchdown
5:19 PM CST (23:19 UTC)
Path length
0.2 miles (0.3 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Rains County
Touchdown point
32.970, -95.800
Record number
613

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
22:14 UTC23:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWD
22:19 UTC23:00 UTCTornado WarningFWD
23:11 UTC00:15 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWD

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:54 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

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.

Longview/Gregg, TX (KGGG), 12:00Z

11.3 hours before the tornado, 132 km from the path. November 15, 1988.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Longview/Gregg, TX at 12:00Z on 1988-11-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 306 joules per kilogram, CIN -85, lifted condensation level 666 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, Longview/Gregg, TX at 12:00Z on 1988-11-15The 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 207 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 40 knots.1939587897Sfc1 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
306 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-85 J/kg
Surface CAPE
546 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
666 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
207 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
250 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
2.5
0-3 km lapse rate
4.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Longview/Gregg, TX (KGGG), 00:00Z

0.7 hours after it, 132 km from the path. November 16, 1988.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Longview/Gregg, TX at 00:00Z on 1988-11-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 944 joules per kilogram, CIN -8, lifted condensation level 1111 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 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, Longview/Gregg, TX at 00:00Z on 1988-11-16The 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 326 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 67 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
944 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-8 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1265 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1111 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
67 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
36 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
326 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
442 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.3
Supercell composite
10.4
0-3 km lapse rate
6.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1988 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of November 15, 1988

43 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
November 158:40 AM CSTF0Beckham, OK0.123under $50
November 1510:30 AM CSTF1Kingfisher, OK3.050$50,000 to $500,000
November 152:05 PM CSTF1Neosho, KS0.120$5,000 to $50,000
November 152:06 PM CSTF2Shawnee, KS5.07022$500,000 to $5 million
November 152:15 PM CSTF2Neosho, KS7.550$5,000 to $50,000
November 152:30 PM CSTF0Jefferson, KS0.120$50 to $500
November 152:45 PM CSTF0Atchison, KS0.120$50 to $500
November 152:55 PM CSTF1Atchison, KS0.540$5,000 to $50,000
November 153:30 PM CSTF0Haskell, OK0.550$5,000 to $50,000
November 153:45 PM CSTF2McDonald, MO28.023112
November 153:50 PM CSTF1Jasper, MO1.050$5,000 to $50,000
November 154:09 PM CSTF0Wayne, IA0.210$50 to $500
November 154:29 PM CSTF2Monroe, IA4.0604$50,000 to $500,000
November 154:55 PM CSTF1Henry, MO0.550$5,000 to $50,000
November 154:55 PM CSTF1Johnson, MO0.550$50,000 to $500,000
November 155:10 PM CSTF1Pettis, MO0.530$5,000 to $50,000
November 155:10 PM CSTF1Greene, MO21.030
November 155:14 PM CSTF1Rains, TX0.210
November 155:20 PM CSTF1Pettis, MO0.530$5,000 to $50,000
November 155:28 PM CSTF1Greene, MO0.530
November 155:30 PM CSTF0Pettis, MO0.530
November 156:25 PM CSTF1Keokuk, IA19.050$50,000 to $500,000
November 156:28 PM CSTF2Johnson, AR16.01509$500,000 to $5 million
November 156:50 PM CSTF0Keokuk, IA0.520$5,000 to $50,000
November 156:50 PM CSTF1Bremer, IA1.020$50,000 to $500,000
November 157:08 PM CSTF2Wapello, IA6.063$50,000 to $500,000
November 157:20 PM CSTF1Conway, AR9.0100$50,000 to $500,000
November 157:30 PM CSTF2Pulaski, MO3.050$500,000 to $5 million
November 157:41 PM CSTF3Conway, AR29.0400110$500,000 to $5 million
November 157:45 PM CSTF2Stone, AR13.04004$50,000 to $500,000
November 158:00 PM CSTF2Clark, AR27.04004$500,000 to $5 million
November 158:15 PM CSTF1Saint Charles, MO0.550$5,000 to $50,000
November 158:25 PM CSTF3Saint Charles, MO1.020010$500,000 to $5 million
November 158:30 PM CSTF1Izard, AR10.03001$50,000 to $500,000
November 158:55 PM CSTF1Dent, MO24.0731
November 159:05 PM CSTF2Delaware, IA11.063$50,000 to $500,000
November 159:15 PM CSTF1Jersey, IL0.250$50,000 to $500,000
November 159:22 PM CSTF0Clayton, IA0.220$5,000 to $50,000
November 159:30 PM CSTF2Greene, IL0.150$50,000 to $500,000
November 159:36 PM CSTF2Pulaski, AR49.0250560$5 million to $50 million
November 1510:12 PM CSTF2Saint Clair, IL0.450$50,000 to $500,000
November 1510:28 PM CSTF3Saint Clair, IL9.0200$500,000 to $5 million
November 1510:45 PM CSTF1Coles, IL0.150$50,000 to $500,000

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.