F1 tornado, Midland, Texas, April 13, 1999

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 13, 1999

Touchdown

5:45 PM CDT (22:45 UTC)

Path length

0.5 miles (0.8 km)

Path width

150 yards (137 m)

Deaths

0

Injuries

0

Property damage

$20,000

County

Midland County

Touchdown point

31.920, -102.000

Lift-off point

31.920, -102.000

Record number

322

This convection developed along the dryline near the Ector/Crane County Line and slowly evolved at first, but suddenly intensified as it approached the city of Midland. The storm's updraft passed south of Midland, so the city only received hail on the extreme south side of town. The storm then spun up rotation while south of the city and became a classic supercell.As the storm approached State Highway 349 damaging winds and hail combined with battering effects. A two mile wide area of wind-driven hail pounded residences and farm equipment for about a 5 mile stretch at least as far as State Highway 158. Hail grew up to about golfball size and winds peaked at approximately 80 mph. The wind-driven hail broke windows in houses and blasted paint off the wooden siding. The strong winds took roofs off several mobile homes and at least one single-family house. Utility crews stated that a total of 27 poles were downed by the winds.The American Red Cross determined that 324 units were affected with 18 mobile homes 4 houses destroyed. About 50-60 families were at least temporarily displaced. Only about 10% of the property was insured. Of the 6 injuries, one person was admitted to the hospital with a broken arm.This wind-driven hail area was on the north side of the mesocyclone with a brief tornado causing damage south of this area. The tornado formation was near the intersection of FM 1213 and County Road 160.

Eyewitness account of this tornado. Although many people in the area considered all the damage to have been from a tornado, actually most of the damage was from the wind-driven hail (north of the tornado path). In the tornado path winds were more intense than in the hail area as demonstrated by the total demolition of one trailer that was spread into the field. All trailers in the hail area were still standing.

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

14 minutes of warning. NWS MAF issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:31 UTC, 14 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 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.

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 19:48 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.

Midland Intl (MAF), 20 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 1999 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

2 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.