Tornado outbreak of May 15–17, 2013
Satellite image of supercell clusters in the Dallas–Fort Worth area during the evening of May 15.
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| Type | Tornado outbreak |
|---|---|
| Duration | May 15–17, 2013 |
| Tornadoes confirmed | 26 |
| Max rating1 | EF4 tornado |
| Duration of tornado outbreak2 | 1 day, 21 hours, 13 minutes |
| Highest winds |
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| Largest hail | 4 in (10 cm) in diameter (Mineral Wells, TX on May 15) |
| Damage | US$272 million |
| Casualties | 6 fatalities (63 injuries) |
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1Most severe tornado damage; see Enhanced Fujita scale 2Time from first tornado to last tornado |
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1Most severe tornado damage; see Enhanced Fujita scale
The May 15–17, 2013 tornado outbreak was a small but intense and deadly tornado outbreak that produced several damaging tornadoes in northern Texas, south-central Oklahoma, northern Louisiana, and northern Alabama. In mid-May 2013, an upper-level shortwave trough tracked across the Southern Plains of the United States. An associated low-pressure area and atmospheric instability resulted in the formation of tornadoes across northern Texas and Oklahoma on May 15. Afterwards the storm system weakened as it tracked westward, though six additional tornadoes were reported in Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama in the two days following May 15. Over a period of nearly two days, the storm system produced 26 tornadoes in four states. The strongest of these was an EF4 tornado which struck Hood County, Texas on May 15. However, on May 16 and May 17 no tornadoes were confirmed to have been stronger than EF1 intensity. In addition to tornadoes, large hail was reported, peaking at 4 in (10 cm) in diameter near Mineral Wells, Texas on May 15.
The EF4 tornado in Hood County, Texas, accounted for all six deaths caused by the severe storms, making it the first deadly tornado event in Texas since the 2007 Piedras Negras-Eagle Pass tornadoes. An additional 63 people were injured, many of which were due to the same EF4 tornado. A second tornado, rated EF3, was similarly damaging and impacted areas southwest of Cleburne, Texas, injuring seven. Damage across the four states due to the storm system reached roughly $272 million in damage.
The outbreak was caused by an upper-level shortwave trough that moved northeastward from Mexico into the Southern Plains states during the nighttime the morning of May 15. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) in Norman, Oklahoma, a division of the National Weather Service, initially issued a slight risk of severe thunderstorms early that morning over northwestern Texas, for a threat of large hail and damaging winds. A low pressure area associated with the trough moved over Oklahoma that day, producing light to moderate rainfall and non-severe thunderstorms across that state into parts of North Texas. Later forecasts expanded the slight risk further into northern and central Texas, and later into far southern Oklahoma, and indicated an enhanced risk of a few isolated tornadoes in north Texas.
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