F2 tornado, Gainesville To 8 Ne G, Texas, April 26, 1994

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 mph

   Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

3. F2113 to 157 mphthis tornado

   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

F2

Date

April 26, 1994

Touchdown

3:45 PM CDT (20:45 UTC)

Path length

16.0 miles (25.7 km)

Path width

200 yards (183 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

8

Property damage

$5 million to $50 million

County

Cooke County

Touchdown point

33.530, -97.270

Lift-off point

33.730, -97.030

Record number

200

A tornado touched down approximately eight miles southwest of Gainesville, then moved northeast through the western and northern parts of Gainesville, then east-northeast to near Callisburg before lifting. The tornado moved through at least one house subdivision and two mobile home parks. Seventy homes were damaged, 15 mobile homes destroyed, and 52 mobile homes were damaged. Severe damage was done to a multi-story apartment complex, and 14 businesses were damaged. Several cars and trucks were flipped over as the tornado crossed Interstate 35. Near Callisburg, the Callisburg High School was damaged, a mobile home was unroofed, a house was destroyed, and trees were blown down across county roads. Total damage was estimated at over 7 million dollars. Muenster,26,1445CST,,,0,0,0,0,Hail (1.75) 2 W Gainesville,26,1450CST,1,100,0,0,5,0,Tornado (F0) A tornado touched down between Lindsay and Gainesville just south of Highway 82, crossing Highway 82 just south of the Municipal Airport before lifting. There were numerous reports of trees and power lines downed across city streets, and damage was done to two barns and a truck.

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

47 minutes of warning. NWS FWD issued a tornado warning for this county at 19:58 UTC, 47 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:00 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.

Sherman/Denison (GYI), 45 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 1994 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

65 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

All 66 of them

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.