Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2000
F3 tornado, Olney, Texas, April 30, 2000
This F3 tornado ran 13.0 miles across Young County on April 30, 2000, touching down at 5:40 PM CDT and reaching 800 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $300,000 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.
F040 to 72 mph
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 mphthis tornado
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
- F3
- Date
- April 30, 2000
- Touchdown
- 5:40 PM CDT (22:40 UTC)
- Path length
- 13.0 miles (20.9 km)
- Path width
- 800 yards (732 m)
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $300,000
- County
- Young County
- Touchdown point
- 33.370, -98.770
- Lift-off point
- 33.370, -98.770
- Record number
- 757
What the Weather Service recorded
April 30, 2000 - Event NarrativeA big day for severe weather across northwest portions of the area. Several outflow boundaries, a dryline, and moist unstable air all helped contribute to thunderstorm development. There were several rounds of thunderstorms, the first wave was in the early morning hours, from about 3 am to 5 am. This activity developed in Young and Palo Pinto counties and moved eastward to affect Parker, Jack, Wise and Tarrant counties. Another event developed in the early evening, generally north and west of a Dallas, Glen Rose, Eastland line. Most of the activity was centered on Young, Jack, and Stephens county. A large tornado occurred near Olney (Young County) during this event. A continuation of aa tornado that began in Throckmorton county.
A large tornado was reported from near the county line (between Elbert and Padgett) to east of Olney. A 100 year old home was completely destroyed one mile south of the Olney Airport. A total of three homes and two motor homes were destroyed. Damage was reported to a nursing home, barns, power lines and trees. Most of the damage, however, occurred in open country.
From NOAA NCEI's Storm Events Database, the narrative the local forecast office wrote for Storm Data.
The warnings
24 minutes of warning. NWS FWD issued a tornado warning for this county at 22:16 UTC, 24 minutes before the tornado touched down, in force until 23:00 UTC.
| Issued (UTC) | Expired | Product | Office |
|---|---|---|---|
| 06:36 UTC | 07:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD |
| 11:13 UTC | 12:00 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD |
| 22:16 UTC | 23:00 UTC | Tornado Warning | FWD |
| 22:52 UTC | 23:30 UTC | Tornado Warning | FWD |
| 23:27 UTC | 00:15 UTC | Tornado Warning | FWD |
| 00:15 UTC | 00:45 UTC | Tornado Warning | FWD |
| 00:35 UTC | 03:30 UTC | Flash Flood Warning | FWD |
| 00:46 UTC | 01:30 UTC | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FWD |
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 19:19 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), 72 km from the path, in the two hours either side.
| Time (UTC) | Temp (°F) | Dew point (°F) | Wind | Gust (kt) | Pressure (mb) | Weather |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20:45 UTC | 77 | 69.8 | 130° 18 kt | 1010.5 | HZ | |
| 20:53 UTC | 75.2 | 68 | 130° 19 kt | 25 | HZ | |
| 21:53 UTC | 75 | 67 | 130° 18 kt | 22 | 1009.5 | |
| 22:53 UTC | 73 | 68 | 130° 16 kt | 1009.1 | ||
| 23:25 UTC | 73.4 | 68 | 120° 15 kt | 1008.8 | TS | |
| 23:53 UTC | 72 | 68 | 130° 13 kt | 1009.5 | TS BR | |
| 00:02 UTC | 71.6 | 64.4 | 290° 14 kt | 18 | 1010.8 | +TSRA SHRA |
| 00:31 UTC | 66.2 | 64.4 | 320° 5 kt | 1009.5 |
From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.
This ground now
The live radar over the trackEvery 2000 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are
The other tornadoes of April 30, 2000
13 more were confirmed in the United States that day.
| Date | Time | Rating | Where | Path (mi) | Width (yd) | Deaths | Injuries | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 30 | 2:20 PM CDT | F0 | Motley, TX | 0.1 | 30 | |||
| April 30 | 3:07 PM CDT | F0 | Cottle, TX | 0.1 | 30 | |||
| April 30 | 4:01 PM CDT | F0 | Foard, TX | 0.2 | 50 | |||
| April 30 | 4:20 PM CDT | F0 | Foard, TX | 3.0 | 50 | |||
| April 30 | 4:27 PM CDT | F0 | Foard, TX | 2.0 | 50 | |||
| April 30 | 5:09 PM CDT | F1 | Throckmorton, TX | 4.0 | 500 | $50,000 | ||
| April 30 | 5:25 PM CDT | F1 | Throckmorton, TX | 2.0 | 500 | $200,000 | ||
| April 30 | 5:30 PM CDT | F1 | Wilbarger, TX | 2.0 | 70 | $50,000 | ||
| April 30 | 5:40 PM CDT | F0 | Young, TX | 0.2 | 20 | |||
| April 30 | 6:50 PM CDT | F0 | Young, TX | 0.1 | 10 | |||
| April 30 | 7:31 PM CDT | F0 | Young, TX | 0.2 | 10 | |||
| April 30 | 7:40 PM CDT | F0 | Young, TX | 0.2 | 10 | |||
| April 30 | 7:46 PM CDT | F0 | Jack, TX | 0.2 | 10 |
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.