1979 Wichita Falls tornado
1979 F4 tornado in Texas, U.S
During the evening hours of Tuesday, April 10, 1979, a violent and deadly F4 tornado struck parts of Wichita Falls, Texas, causing catastrophic impacts to the city. The tornado, mononymously referred to as simply the Wichita Falls tornado, was up to 1.5 mi (2.4 km) wide as it tore through the city, with the swath of particularly intense damage spanning 0.25–0.5 mi (0.40–0.80 km) wide. The twister was part of a larger tornado outbreak across the Red River Valley that spawned multiple deadly intense-to-violent tornadoes that day.
The Wichita Falls tornado formed in Archer County and moved northeast and damaged a few rural homes and high voltage towers at F1-F2 intensity. It rapidly intensified to F4 intensity as it entered the city near Memorial Stadium by McNiel Jr. High School on Southwest Parkway, which was located to the west of Wichita Falls at approximately 6:07 p.m., damaging both structures severely. Hail the size of golf balls preceded the touchdown and continued for approximately 15 minutes. It then became calm before the winds began to pick up. Continuing at F4 intensity, the now massive wedge tornado, which was at its maximum 1.5 miles (2.4 km) wide, cut a 2.5-mile (4.0 km) swath of destruction through the south side of town. It first destroyed an apartment complex, where the first fatalities took place, as it moved along Southwest Parkway.
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This entry incorporates text from “1979 Wichita Falls tornado” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.