Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 1993

F0 tornado, Collin County, Texas, September 13, 1993

This F0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Collin County on September 13, 1993, touching down at 11:10 AM CDT 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 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.

The record

Rating
F0
Date
September 13, 1993
Touchdown
11:10 AM CDT (16:10 UTC)
Path length
0.1 miles (0.2 km)
Path width
10 yards (9 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Collin County
Touchdown point
33.350, -96.600
Record number
1053

What the Weather Service recorded

A brief tornado was reported in open country by spotters between Weston and Anna.

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

The warnings

0 minutes of warning. NWS FWD issued a tornado warning for this county at 16:10 UTC, 0 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 17:15 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
13:39 UTC14:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWD
14:25 UTC15:15 UTCTornado WarningFWD
15:14 UTC15:45 UTCTornado WarningFWD
16:10 UTC17:15 UTCTornado 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 06:07 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 surface observations

Sherman/Denison (GYI), 41 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
15:00 UTC74.8474180° 18 kt1009.8-RA FG
15:00 UTC74.8474180° 18 kt1009.8-RA FG
16:00 UTC74.8474180° 20 kt1009.8TSRA
16:00 UTC74.8474180° 20 kt1009.8TSRA
17:00 UTC7874180° 10 kt1010.2
17:00 UTC7874180° 10 kt1010.2

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

This ground now

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

The other tornadoes of September 13, 1993

22 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
September 136:50 AM CDTF1Barron, WI0.350$50,000 to $500,000
September 137:10 AM CDTF1Johnson, TX13.01502$5 million to $50 million
September 137:40 AM CDTF1Price, WI0.330$500 to $5,000
September 138:10 AM CDTF2Tarrant, TX8.0100$500,000 to $5 million
September 138:37 AM CDTF2Tarrant, TX2.01005$500,000 to $5 million
September 139:00 AM CDTF1Tarrant, TX6.080$50,000 to $500,000
September 139:23 AM CDTF1Denton, TX13.0100$50,000 to $500,000
September 1310:45 AM CDTF0Denton, TX0.110
September 1311:00 AM CDTF1Denton, TX0.51001$50,000 to $500,000
September 132:00 PM CDTF1McLennan, TX6.0100$50,000 to $500,000
September 132:30 PM CDTF0McClain, OK0.123
September 134:28 PM CDTF0Johnston, OK1.530$500 to $5,000
September 135:08 PM CDTF1Crawford, MO8.073$50,000 to $500,000
September 135:27 PM CDTF0Crawford, MO0.330$500 to $5,000
September 135:31 PM CDTF1Franklin, MO12.060$50,000 to $500,000
September 135:45 PM CDTF1Okfuskee, OK25.073$5,000 to $50,000
September 136:07 PM CDTF0Franklin, MO0.330$500 to $5,000
September 136:45 PM CDTF0Franklin, MO2.043$5,000 to $50,000
September 137:06 PM CDTF0Crawford, MO0.440$500 to $5,000
September 137:25 PM CDTF0Crawford, MO0.650$500 to $5,000
September 138:18 PM CDTF0Stephens, TX0.110$5,000 to $50,000
September 138:40 PM CDTF0Stephens, TX2.0100$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.