Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 1995

F1 tornado, Dawson County, Texas, June 4, 1995

This F1 tornado ran 2.0 miles across Dawson County on June 4, 1995, touching down at 7:29 PM CDT and reaching 110 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 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
June 4, 1995
Touchdown
7:29 PM CDT (00:29 UTC)
Path length
2.0 miles (3.2 km)
Path width
110 yards (101 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Dawson County
Touchdown point
32.680, -102.100
Record number
661

The warnings

19 minutes of warning. NWS MAF issued a tornado warning for this county at 00:10 UTC, 19 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 01:15 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
21:34 UTC22:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAF
22:25 UTC23:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAF
22:32 UTC23:00 UTCTornado WarningMAF
22:55 UTC23:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAF
23:17 UTC00:15 UTCTornado WarningMAF
00:10 UTC01:15 UTCTornado WarningMAF
04:06 UTC04:36 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAF
04:49 UTC05:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningMAF

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 05:59 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.

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), 00:00Z

0.5 hours before the tornado, 82 km from the path. June 5, 1995.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Midland Regional, TX at 00:00Z on 1995-06-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 3212 joules per kilogram, CIN -33, lifted condensation level 1272 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, Midland Regional, TX at 00:00Z on 1995-06-05The 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 99 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 45 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
3212 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-33 J/kg
Surface CAPE
3208 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1272 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
99 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
172 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
2.1
Supercell composite
13.3
0-3 km lapse rate
7.4 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Midland Regional, TX (KMAF), 12:00Z

11.5 hours after it, 82 km from the path. June 5, 1995.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 1995-06-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2214 joules per kilogram, CIN -146, lifted condensation level 970 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, Midland Regional, TX at 12:00Z on 1995-06-05The 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 217 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 34 knots.19395878Sfc1 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
2214 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-146 J/kg
Surface CAPE
1793 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
970 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
217 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
289 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.7
Supercell composite
7.7
0-3 km lapse rate
5.5 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Midland Intl (MAF), 82 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
23:00 UTC8264140° 17 kt1009.5
00:00 UTC8464150° 17 kt1009.1
01:00 UTC8265120° 18 kt1010.5
01:36 UTC130° 16 kt1010.8
02:00 UTC7865120° 16 kt1011.2

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

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1995 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 4, 1995

12 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 42:50 PM CDTF1Castro, TX2.050
June 42:50 PM CDTF0Hockley, TX0.220
June 43:00 PM CDTF1Castro, TX3.0100$5,000 to $50,000
June 43:00 PM CDTF0Castro, TX0.110
June 43:00 PM CDTF0Castro, TX0.110
June 43:00 PM CDTF0Castro, TX0.110
June 43:00 PM CDTF0Castro, TX0.110
June 43:00 PM CDTF0Castro, TX0.110
June 43:12 PM CDTF0Castro, TX0.550
June 45:30 PM CDTF0Dawson, TX0.240
June 47:30 PM CDTF0Nemaha, NE0.110
June 49:40 PM EDTF1Polk, FL16.050$500,000 to $5 million

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.