TornadoLookup

Home / Texas / Palo Pinto

EF3 tornado in Palo Pinto County, Texas

Tornado April 28, 2026 · Palo Pinto County, Texas

EF3
Rating
4.7 mi
Whole path
800 yd
Path width
5
Injuries
$2.3M
Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Palo Pinto County → Parker County; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

EF0EF1EF2EF3EF4EF5Unrated

The path drawn at its surveyed width of 800 yards (0.45 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What EF3 means. On the Enhanced Fujita scale, EF3 is severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, consistent with estimated gusts of 136–165 mph. The rating comes from a survey of the worst damage after the storm, not from a wind measurement, so it says as much about what the tornado hit as about how strong it was.

What the National Weather Service wrote

The tornado touched down north of Mineral Wells near Sundown Road and FM 1821, producing minor tree and fence damage. The tornado then continued southeast crossing Ellis White Road before moving into the Country Club Estates neighborhood. Multiple trees were uprooted, multiple carports collapsed, and multiple homes were damaged in this neighborhood. The most notable was a home that had its entire roof and truss structure removed and displaced approximately 200 feet, consistent with 120 mph winds. The tornado continued southeast from here into Parker County where it did considerable damage in the same area.

The wider storm

A shortwave trough, slow moving cold front, and continued presence of a dryline resulted in additional severe thunderstorm development on April 28 and 29. Large hail was the primary severe weather occurrence. Destructive hail damaged several locations in North and Central Texas with hail sizes ranging up to 3.5-4 inch hail in Johnson County. On April 28th 4 tornadoes occurred including an EF-3 tornado in Mineral Wells.

Began near Mineral Wells (32.8339, -98.0717).

Other tornadoes from the same storm system

5 more tornadoes the National Weather Service filed under this storm episode.

EF1 Johnson CountyEF0 Montague CountyEF0 Johnson CountyEF0 Johnson CountyEF0 Wise County

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 1331970. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

Tornadoes near your address

See every tornado that passed near a place you know, measured to its path.