Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 1995
F0 tornado, W Burkburnett, Texas, June 9, 1995
This F0 tornado ran 0.1 miles across Wichita County on June 9, 1995, touching down at 10:15 PM CDT and reaching 23 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.
F040 to 72 mphthis tornado
Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.
F173 to 112 mph
Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.
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.
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.
F4207 to 260 mph
Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.
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.
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
- June 9, 1995
- Touchdown
- 10:15 PM CDT (03:15 UTC)
- Path length
- 0.1 miles (0.2 km)
- Path width
- 23 yards (21 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- County
- Wichita County
- Touchdown point
- 34.100, -98.630
- Record number
- 775
What the Weather Service recorded
Afternoon and evening thunderstorms produced flash flooding, severe straight-line winds, hail as large as softballs, and 13 tornados as they moved across western North Texas. The first six tornados were spawned by a single storm as it moved across Hardeman County and into western Wilbarger County. The first five of these six tornados occurred south of Chillicothe in Hardeman County and spotters reported that each tornado was a brief F0 causing no damage. The sixth tornado, located 10 miles west of Vernon in Wilbarger County, was multi-vortex in structure; however, no damage was reported and this tornado was also rated as F0. The seventh and eighth tornados occurred simultaneously at 1900 CST with separate storms five miles northwest of Burkburnett and seven miles east of Electra in Wichita County. No damage was reported and both were rated as F0. The nineth through thirteenth tornados occurred as the storms continued to move eastward across Wichita County. The nineth tornado was spotted nine miles west of Iowa Park. The 10th tornado touched down near the A/C Delco plant south of Burkburnett, slightly damaging roofs in the area. The eleventh tornado was reported east of Burkburnett. The 12th and 13th tornados were spotted six miles west of Burkburnett and just west of Burkburnett respectively. Once again, no significant damage occurred with any of the tornados and all were rated as F0. In addition to the tornados, severe thunderstorm winds reached 85 mph at Shepherd Air Force Base in Wichita County. Softball-size hail was reported eight miles north of Crowell in Foard County, 13 miles south of Quanah in Hardeman County, and 10 miles northwest of Vernon in Wilbarger County. Flash flooding began in Vernon in Wilbarger County at 1900 CST, when Highway 283 north of town was under water and some flooding of streets and homes was reported on the southwest side of Vernon. Later, at 2050 CST, Highway 283 south of town was closed, Highway 70 to Crowell was closed, and one foot of water covered some roads in Vernon.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
16 minutes of warning. NWS OUN issued a tornado warning for this county at 02:59 UTC, 16 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 03:45 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 00:26 UTC | 01:15 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN |
| 00:35 UTC | 01:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | OUN |
| 01:13 UTC | 01:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | OUN |
| 01:42 UTC | 02:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | OUN |
| 02:25 UTC | 03:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN |
| 02:59 UTC | 03:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | OUN |
| 04:42 UTC | 05:45 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | OUN |
| 16:21 UTC | 22:15 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | OUN |
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 Moderate Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 05:56 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
Wichita Falls/Shep (SPS), 18 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01:17 UTC | 85 | 72 | 130° 18 kt | 1010.2 | ||
| 01:30 UTC | 83.84 | 70.88 | 270° 21 kt | 28 | 1012.5 | TS |
| 02:00 UTC | 69 | 68 | 330° 41 kt | 1012.9 | -TSRA FG | |
| 02:06 UTC | ||||||
| 02:17 UTC | ||||||
| 03:00 UTC | 70 | 67 | 100° 11 kt | 1012.9 | -TSRA | |
| 04:00 UTC | 71 | 67 | 20° 8 kt | 1013.5 | -TSRA | |
| 05:00 UTC | 76 | 71 | 140° 13 kt | 1012.9 | -TSRA |
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 9, 1995
30 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 9 | 7:00 AM CDT | F1 | Lincoln, OK | 0.7 | 20 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| June 9 | 7:15 AM CDT | F2 | Lincoln, OK | 0.2 | 23 | $50,000 to $500,000 | ||
| June 9 | 7:25 AM CDT | F0 | Creek, OK | 0.1 | 30 | 1 | $5,000 to $50,000 | |
| June 9 | 7:30 AM CDT | F0 | Creek, OK | 0.1 | 30 | |||
| June 9 | 2:15 PM CDT | F0 | Greer, OK | 0.1 | 20 | |||
| June 9 | 2:36 PM CDT | F0 | Greer, OK | 0.1 | 23 | |||
| June 9 | 2:38 PM CDT | F0 | Greer, OK | 0.1 | 30 | |||
| June 9 | 2:39 PM CDT | F0 | Greer, OK | 0.1 | 50 | |||
| June 9 | 2:53 PM CDT | F0 | Greer, OK | 0.1 | 23 | |||
| June 9 | 3:59 PM EDT | F0 | Nelson, VA | 0.3 | 30 | $5,000 to $50,000 | ||
| June 9 | 3:00 PM CDT | F0 | Kiowa, OK | 0.7 | 100 | |||
| June 9 | 4:20 PM CDT | F0 | Kiowa, OK | 0.1 | 23 | |||
| June 9 | 4:53 PM CDT | F0 | Hardeman, TX | 0.1 | 20 | |||
| June 9 | 4:59 PM CDT | F0 | Hardeman, TX | 0.1 | 23 | |||
| June 9 | 5:00 PM CDT | F0 | Hardeman, TX | 0.1 | 30 | |||
| June 9 | 5:05 PM CDT | F0 | Hardeman, TX | 0.1 | 33 | |||
| June 9 | 5:08 PM CDT | F0 | Hardeman, TX | 0.1 | 23 | |||
| June 9 | 5:16 PM CDT | F0 | Wilbarger, TX | 0.1 | 100 | |||
| June 9 | 5:58 PM CDT | F2 | Seminole, OK | 5.2 | 300 | $500,000 to $5 million | ||
| June 9 | 6:27 PM CDT | F0 | Brewster, TX | 0.1 | 10 | |||
| June 9 | 7:30 PM CDT | F0 | Tillman, OK | 0.1 | 30 | |||
| June 9 | 7:45 PM CDT | F0 | Brewster, TX | 0.1 | 10 | |||
| June 9 | 8:00 PM CDT | F0 | Wichita, TX | 0.1 | 23 | |||
| June 9 | 8:00 PM CDT | F0 | Wichita, TX | 0.1 | 23 | |||
| June 9 | 8:04 PM CDT | F0 | Wichita, TX | 0.1 | 23 | |||
| June 9 | 8:20 PM CDT | F0 | Wichita, TX | 0.1 | 23 | $500 to $5,000 | ||
| June 9 | 8:32 PM CDT | F0 | Wichita, TX | 0.1 | 23 | |||
| June 9 | 10:00 PM CDT | F0 | Wichita, TX | 0.1 | 23 | |||
| June 9 | 11:40 PM CDT | F0 | Nowata, OK | 0.1 | 30 | |||
| June 9 | 12:03 AM CDT | F0 | Rogers, OK | 0.1 | 30 |
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.