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F3 tornado in Bowie County, Texas

Tornado May 4, 1999 · Bowie County, Texas

Rating

50.2 mi

Whole path

200 yd

Path width

Injuries

$125.0M

Damage as recorded

NOAA records this tornado county by county. Its path ran through Red River County → Bowie County → Little River County, Arkansas → Sevier County, Arkansas; the totals above are for the whole tornado.

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The path drawn at its surveyed width of 200 yards (0.11 mi) — zoom in and the swath grows to true scale. Other tornadoes recorded nearby that day are shown faint.

What F3 means. This tornado was rated on Fujita’s original scale, used until 2007. F3 meant severe damage: whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned; the scale paired it with winds of 158–206 mph, figures later judged too high, especially toward the top of the scale, and revised downward in the Enhanced Fujita scale. Ratings then, as now, came from the damage.

What the National Weather Service wrote

This tornado moved directly through the downtown district of De Kalb and across a high school. Numerous homes and businesses were severely damaged or destroyed. The high school suffered severe damage. Sirens sounded 15 minutes prior to arrival of the storm. The damage resulted in a Presidential Disaster Declaration. This tornado moved from Red River county, TX across Bowie county, TX into Little River county, AR.

Began near De Kalb (33.4000, -94.7300).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event 5696338. Narratives are written by the National Weather Service forecast office that issued the report.

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