F1 tornado, Plainview, Texas, April 10, 1997

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.

Rating

F1

Date

April 10, 1997

Touchdown

6:06 PM CDT (23:06 UTC)

Path length

0.2 miles (0.3 km)

Path width

73 yards (67 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$30,000

County

Hale County

Touchdown point

34.200, -101.850

Lift-off point

34.200, -101.850

Record number

729

Severe weather broke out across the South Plains of West Texas during the afternoon and evening of the 10th. A band of storms moved across the area bringing large hail to many counties. Ahead of the band, however, an isolated tornadic supercell moved from Lynn County northeast across Crosby and Dickens Counties. One of its tornadoes struck a lone, double-wide mobile home about one-half mile west of White River Lake (or about 6 miles NNE of Kalgary) in Crosby County, killing one 78 year-old male and injuring a 73 year-old female. The couple was preparing to leave for shelter just as the tornado struck. It totally demolished the structure and damaged a vehicle. This same cell had caused tornadoes in southern and eastern Lynn County earlier (as reported by chasers and spotters), and proceeded to cause other tornadoes in Dickens and eastern Crosby Counties (as reported by spotters and local law enforcement). Near Afton (Dickens Co.), a trailer was damaged, the roof of a cotton gin was ripped off, and a chimney collapsed due to a tornado.At almost the same time as the White River Lake tornado, severe winds caused damage to the Liberty Acres community just northeast of Lubbock International Airport. Several houses were damaged (one severely) and several mobile homes were damaged (one severely), too. The winds also knocked down four utility poles and a few trees (one of which damaged a car). Although some people believed this storm was a tornado, a damage survey by researchers from Texas Tech's wind engineering group, as well as one by NWS officials, proved inconclusive.Minutes before the storm damaged Liberty Acres, it dropped golfball-size hail over west parts of the City of Lubbock, damaging 3,000 to 4,000 homes as well as a few thousand vehicles. Damages from the hail were estimated at more than $30 million.A tornado west of Plainview uprooted trees and damaged two barns.Note: The tornado description below was added in 2005 after the report was relayed to the NWS as a result of other requests. As the report is delayed, there is no F-rating assigned an no damage amounts have been reported. The tornado report is included for the integrity of the database and climatological research.A tornado was reported approximately 2 miles to the northwest of Canyon Valley around 9 pm. A residence was completely destroyed and was located 1/2 mile north of County Road 238. The tornado is reportedly separate from the White River Lake tornado described above. Debris from the home was scattered up to 6 miles from the residence and cedar trees where uprooted and large sandstone rocks were moved. The debris path was reported to be an estimated 1/2 mile wide with utility poles snapped and carried four to five hundred yards south of the house. A very heavy and anchored deer stand was blown over and damaged 1/2 mile north of the house.

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

3 minutes of warning. NWS LUB issued a tornado warning for this county at 23:03 UTC, 3 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:35 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.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 07:03 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 Lubbock radar (KLBB), 61 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 23:06 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

The live radar over the trackEvery 1997 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

17 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.