EF2 tornado in Taylor County, Texas

This tornado began on the southeast corner of Dyess Air Force Base and damaged some roofs and destroyed a shed. The tornado moved northeast towards Abilene and impacted several residential neighborhoods on both sides of the Winters Freeway located on the west side of Abilene. It damaged many roofs, blew out windows, uprooted trees and damaged tree limbs. The tornado strengthened to an EF-2 as it crossed South 6th street, completely removing several roofs from residential homes. According to the City of Abilene, about 390 homes were affected. Of these homes, about 336 homes had minor roof damage, 46 homes had major damage and eight homes were destroyed by the tornado.

A highly sheared environment coupled with a very unstable airmass resulted in the development of strong tornadoes during the early morning hours of May 18. At least seven of the eight tornadoes damaged or destroyed several hundred homes across portions of West Central Texas. One of the supercells produced four long track strong tornadoes.