F0 tornado, Lubbock, Texas, March 29, 1993

1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

   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 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.

Rating

F0

Date

March 29, 1993

Touchdown

1:40 PM CST (19:40 UTC)

Path length

0.3 miles (0.5 km)

Path width

50 yards (46 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$500 to $5,000

County

Lubbock County

Touchdown point

33.580, -101.850

Record number

78

As the Terry County Supercell moved across Lubbock County, it left a swath of severe weather. Golfball-size hail was reported at Reese Air Force Base and near the Carlisle community. As the storm moved across western and northern sections of Lubbock, a series of downbursts and two weak tornadoes occurred. The downbursts damaged several light and telephone poles, the roof of an elementary school suffered minor damage, and approximately 100 vehicles had window damage. The first tornado touched down in the west-central part of Lubbock. Some buildings at Lubbock Christian University suffered damage, and windows were blown out at a Junior High School north of LCU. The second tornado struck north-central Lubbock, near the Lubbock State School. Damage in this area was confined mainly to windows. As the storm passed Lubbock International Airport, the NWS Office's wind equipment measured a wind gust to 77 mph. Total damage from the storm is estimated at $400,000.

As the Terry County Supercell moved across Lubbock County, it left a swath of severe weather. Golfball-size hail was reported at Reese Air Force Base and near the Carlisle community. As the storm moved across western and northern sections of Lubbock, a series of downbursts and two weak tornadoes occurred. The downbursts damaged several light and telephone poles, the roof of an elementary school suffered minor damage, and approximately 100 vehicles had window damage. The first tornado touched down in the west-central part of Lubbock. Some buildings at Lubbock Christian University suffered damage, and windows were blown out at a Junior High School north of LCU. The second tornado struck north-central Lubbock, near the Lubbock State School. Damage in this area was confined mainly to windows. As the storm passed Lubbock International Airport, the NWS Office's wind equipment measured a wind gust to 77 mph. Total damage from the storm is estimated at $400,000.

From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.

16 minutes of warning. NWS LUB issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:24 UTC, 16 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 20:00 UTC.

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 Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Moderate Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:58 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 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.

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

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

The live radar over the trackEvery 1993 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

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.

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