F3 tornado, Marble Falls, Texas, May 13, 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 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 mphthis tornado

   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

F3

Date

May 13, 1994

Touchdown

11:45 AM CDT (16:45 UTC)

Path length

3.5 miles (5.6 km)

Path width

880 yards (805 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

1

Property damage

$500,000 to $5 million

County

Burnet County

Touchdown point

30.570, -98.270

Lift-off point

30.600, -98.230

Record number

342

The storm approached the city from the west-southwest. There were unconfirmed reports of funnels in the Horseshoe Bay area, four miles southwest of Marble Falls, before the storm arrived. Spotty damage was reported to roofs in the Horseshoe Bay area. The tornado first struck the west side of the city, crossing a heavy commercialized and residential area. Roofs were severely damaged at this time with several structures sustaining F1 and F2 damage. Several boats at a dealership were tossed on top of each other. Two-by-four's were embedded into the side of a church preschool care center, penetrating an inside classroom wall by four to five feet. Fortunately, all children had been moved into hallways just before the tornado arrived. Numerous commerical signs were down with widespread roof damage. This damage became even more extensive as the tornado moved across the northern part of the city. Marble Falls primary school also sustained damage, but students had been evacuated to the main school. Trees were uprooted on the school grounds and damage was reported to outbuildings. Metal I-beams were bent at a nearby metal building, indicating F2 to F3 damage. Three nearby semi-tractor trailer delivery trucks and a bread delivery truck were overturned. Two of these trucks were reported to have been lifted "two to three feet off of the ground" as they were overturned. At a nearby Wal-Mart department store 100 to 200 employees had taken shelter, having practiced their severe weather drill the day before. The store was hit and severely damaged, with the employees sustaining only a few minor injuries. Additional roof damage was reported at Marble Falls High School. Students had just executed a tornado drill as the storm struck. There was extensive peeling of metal from the auditorium and gymnasium roofs. In summary, over 440 homes sustained damage, with one house and 17 mobile homes destroyed and major damage to 36 homes. Eighteen businesses reported major damage with 47 others reporting minor damage. In addition, two bridges were damaged, along with severe damage to schools. In all, 512 structures sustained damage.

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

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

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 Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 06:09 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.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1994 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

28 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.