Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2006

F1 tornado, Waco, Texas, April 28, 2006

This F1 tornado ran 0.8 miles across McLennan County on April 28, 2006, touching down at 12:20 AM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody, and did $200,000 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
April 28, 2006
Touchdown
12:20 AM CDT (05:20 UTC)
Path length
0.8 miles (1.3 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$200,000
County
McLennan County
Touchdown point
31.550, -97.150
Lift-off point
31.550, -97.150
Record number
438

What the Weather Service recorded

The National Weather Service in Fort Worth conducted a damage survey of the tornado that occurred in eastern Waco. Damage was first noted south of Kendall Lane, approximately 1.25 miles west of Loop 340. The tornado partially collapsed a two story house and damaged two other houses and numerous barns and outbuildings as it moved north-northeast between Kendall Lane and Orchard Lane. Several trees were also knocked down. The tornado dissipated north of Orchard Lane and deposited debris in a field to the north. Two people were injured as well as several horses.

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

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down.

The county was under a tornado watch, issued at 23:48 UTC and running to 07:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
23:48 UTC07:00 UTCTornado WatchFWD
05:05 UTC05:56 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningFWD

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, with a 0.10 chance of a tornado within 25 miles. The outlook in force was issued at 01:00 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.

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 00:00Z

5.3 hours before the tornado, 143 km from the path. April 29, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2006-04-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 446 joules per kilogram, CIN -52, lifted condensation level 654 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, Fort Worth, TX at 00:00Z on 2006-04-29The 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 532 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 74 knots.1939587897117Sfc1 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
446 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-52 J/kg
Surface CAPE
316 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
654 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
74 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
41 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
532 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
752 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
1.8
Supercell composite
8.7
0-3 km lapse rate
5.1 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

Fort Worth, TX (KFWD), 12:00Z

6.7 hours after it, 143 km from the path. April 29, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2006-04-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 1 joules per kilogram, CIN -305, lifted condensation level 667 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, Fort Worth, TX at 12:00Z on 2006-04-29The 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 12 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 85 knots.1939587897117136Sfc1 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
1 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-305 J/kg
Surface CAPE
6 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
667 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
85 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
12 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
61 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0
0-3 km lapse rate
4.0 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The surface observations

Waco (ACT), 11 km from the path, in the two hours either side.

Time (UTC)Temp (°F)Dew point (°F)WindGust (kt)Pressure (mb)Weather
03:51 UTC7667150° 16 kt1006.4
04:51 UTC7568170° 12 kt1007.1-TSRA
05:51 UTC7064160° 17 kt1007.1VCTS -RA
06:51 UTC6763190° 5 kt1005.8

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of airport observations.

The radar

The Ft Hood radar (KGRK), 95 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 05:19 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.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
05:01 UTCTSTM WND DMG8 Nw TempleBell, TXMOBULE HOME BLOWN OVER. DEBRIS IN ROAD.
05:12 UTCTSTM WND DMGMoodyMclennan, TXFENCE BLOWN AWAY
05:20 UTCTSTM WND DMGWacoMclennan, TXTWO HOMES DESTROYED, TWO MINOR INJURIES, SEVERAL BARNS DESTROYED, 3 HORSES INJURED.
05:52 UTCTSTM WND DMGMount CalmHill, TXSEVERAL LARGE TREE LIMBS DOWN IN TOWN AND NORTHWEST OF TOWN.
05:52 UTCHAIL 12 Nw Mount CalmHill, TX

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2006 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of April 28, 2006

9 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
April 283:40 PM CDTF0LaMoure, ND0.425
April 284:04 PM CDTF0LaMoure, ND0.560
April 284:35 PM CDTF0Sargent, ND2.550
April 285:25 PM CDTF0Stonewall, TX0.150
April 286:02 PM CDTF0Greer, OK0.440
April 289:18 PM CDTF0Lampasas, TX0.125
April 289:38 PM CDTF0Wise, TX0.125
April 289:45 PM CDTF1Wise, TX0.440$20,000
April 2811:05 PM CDTF0Denton, TX0.210

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.