Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 1989

F1 tornado, Oldham County, Texas, May 16, 1989

This F1 tornado ran 3.0 miles across Oldham County on May 16, 1989, touching down at 2:55 PM CDT and reaching 80 yards wide. It killed nobody and injured 2, and did $50,000 to $500,000 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 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
May 16, 1989
Touchdown
2:55 PM CDT (19:55 UTC)
Path length
3.0 miles (4.8 km)
Path width
80 yards (73 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
2
Property damage
$50,000 to $500,000
County
Oldham County
Touchdown point
35.200, -102.430
Lift-off point
35.200, -102.380
Record number
252

The warnings

14 minutes of warning. NWS AMA issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:41 UTC, 14 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:30 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
02:07 UTC03:00 UTCTornado WarningAMA
18:51 UTC19:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA
19:41 UTC20:30 UTCTornado WarningAMA
21:35 UTC22:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA

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 Moderate Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:19 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.

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), 12:00Z

7.9 hours before the tornado, 64 km from the path. May 16, 1989.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 1989-05-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 750 joules per kilogram, CIN -45, lifted condensation level 607 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, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 1989-05-16The 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 247 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
750 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-45 J/kg
Surface CAPE
518 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
607 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
40 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
247 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
223 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.9
Supercell composite
7.2
0-3 km lapse rate
5.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), 00:00Z

4.1 hours after it, 64 km from the path. May 17, 1989.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Amarillo Airport, TX at 00:00Z on 1989-05-17Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 232 joules per kilogram, CIN -8, lifted condensation level 633 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 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, Amarillo Airport, TX at 00:00Z on 1989-05-17The 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 141 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 44 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 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
232 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-8 J/kg
Surface CAPE
437 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
633 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
44 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
141 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
421 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.2
Supercell composite
1.1
0-3 km lapse rate
6.2 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Amarillo - Rick Husband Intl (AMA), 64 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
18:00 UTC6259130° 15 kt1010.2FG
18:15 UTC130° 13 kt1010.2
19:00 UTC6260120° 11 kt1009.8FG
20:00 UTC6362110° 14 kt1008.8-DZ FG
20:23 UTC110° 15 kt1008.1
21:00 UTC6762120° 17 kt1006.8FG
21:13 UTC140° 22 kt1006.8

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1989 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of May 16, 1989

16 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
May 1611:10 AM MDTF0Quay, NM10.050
May 1612:53 PM CDTF1Jones, TX1.0100
May 161:54 PM CDTF1Coleman, TX0.210
May 165:20 PM CDTF0Randall, TX1.560
May 165:35 PM CDTF2Randall, TX10.0300
May 165:55 PM CDTF0Potter, TX3.050
May 165:55 PM CDTF0Randall, TX1.040
May 166:02 PM CDTF0Potter, TX0.140
May 166:23 PM CDTF1Potter, TX0.2110$5,000 to $50,000
May 167:00 PM CDTF1Hood, TX0.573
May 167:15 PM CDTF1Hood, TX0.573$50,000 to $500,000
May 167:38 PM CDTF1Johnson, TX2.573$5 million to $50 million
May 1610:10 PM CDTF1Val Verde, TX8.02001$500,000 to $5 million
May 1612:08 AM CDTF4Kinney, TX17.0300$500,000 to $5 million
May 1612:10 AM CDTF1Gaines, TX2.560
May 1612:29 AM CDTF0Val Verde, TX0.210

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.