Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 1999

F1 tornado, Marshall, Texas, December 4, 1999

This F1 tornado ran 1.6 miles across Harrison County on December 4, 1999, touching down at 3:20 PM CST and reaching 140 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $40,000 of property damage.

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
December 4, 1999
Touchdown
3:20 PM CST (21:20 UTC)
Path length
1.6 miles (2.6 km)
Path width
140 yards (128 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$40,000
County
Harrison County
Touchdown point
32.530, -94.370
Lift-off point
32.530, -94.370
Record number
673

What the Weather Service recorded

In southwest Marshall from just southeast of West Pinecrest Drive (hwy 43) and just east of West End Blvd to South Washington Ave to just west of East End Blvd (Hwy 59). Eyewitnesses indicated tornado was heavily rain wrapped, fast moving and very difficult to see. Tree on home. Few removed shingles. About ten large pines snapped or uprooted. Flag pole bent. Power lines down.

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

The warnings

15 minutes of warning. NWS SHV issued a tornado warning for this county at 21:05 UTC, 15 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 21:45 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:51 UTC21:35 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningSHV
21:05 UTC21:45 UTCTornado WarningSHV

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 19:34 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.

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), 12:00Z

9.3 hours before the tornado, 58 km from the path. December 4, 1999.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Shreveport, LA at 12:00Z on 1999-12-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 143 joules per kilogram, CIN -25, lifted condensation level 602 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, Shreveport, LA at 12:00Z on 1999-12-04The 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 348 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 37 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
143 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-25 J/kg
Surface CAPE
40 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
602 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
37 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
348 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
374 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
3.1
0-3 km lapse rate
5.6 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Shreveport, LA (KSHV), 00:00Z

2.7 hours after it, 58 km from the path. December 5, 1999.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Shreveport, LA at 00:00Z on 1999-12-05Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 0 joules per kilogram, CIN -72555, lifted condensation level 922 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCL10008507005003002001001 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, Shreveport, LA at 00:00Z on 1999-12-05The 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 -86 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 57 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-72555 J/kg
Surface CAPE
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
922 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
57 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
31 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-86 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
21 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
3.8 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 1999 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of December 4, 1999

7 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
December 41:45 PM CSTF0Cass, TX0.90
December 42:06 PM CSTF0Bowie, TX2.10
December 42:50 PM CSTF0Polk, AR0.540
December 44:49 PM CSTF1Hot Spring, AR4.30
December 45:10 PM CSTF1Johnson, AR2.850
December 45:30 PM CSTF1Yell, AR8.70
December 46:33 PM CSTF0Natchitoches Parish, LA4.030

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.