The May 15, 2013 tornado
EF4Hood County, Texas
An EF4 tornado on a 2.5-mile path that killed 6 and injured 54. It was one of 20 tornadoes recorded in the U.S. that day, 2 of them rated F3/EF3 or stronger.
Watch how it happenedEF4 tornado · May 15, 2013
How it happened
Follow the tornado’s path, minute by minute.
The tornado
- Rating
- EF4
- Enhanced Fujita scale
- Path length
- 2.5 mi
- Width up to 400 yards
- Killed
- 6
- Along the whole path
- Injured
- 54
- Along the whole path
- Date and time
- Wednesday, May 15, 2013
- 6:58 PM CST
The National Weather Service account
Written by the local Weather Service office after its damage survey.
National Weather Service crews surveyed the damage from the Granbury tornado. The tornado first occurred on the west bank of Lake Granbury / Brazos River. The tornado crossed the lake heading east, towards Davis Road. On the east side of the lake, the tornado damaged several power lines and trees, before hitting the American Legion hall on Davis Road. ||The tornado then took much more of a northerly track through the Rancho Brazos subdivision. This subdivision was severely damaged, with 97 of the 110 homes suffering at least minor damage. Four homes suffered EF-4 damage, and ten others had EF-3 damage. The vast majority of the subdivision had evidence of EF-1 or EF-2 damage. Six individuals lost their lives in this subdivision as a direct result of the tornado. All six were in mobile homes at the time. ||Moving north from the Rancho Brazos subdivision, the tornado dissipated approximately one mile to the north-northeast of the area that suffered the most damage.
The storm system that day
A tornado and severe weather outbreak occurred on the afternoon and evening hours of May 15th. Nineteen tornadoes occurred, including one EF-4 and one EF-3. Six fatalities occurred in the city of Granbury, TX. These fatalities were the first in the Fort Worth county warning area since 2006. An additional 54 people were injured by the various tornadoes during the evening of May 15th. A number of homes, 171, suffered major damaged or were destroyed. An additional 513 homes suffered minor damage or were somehow affected. ||During the afternoon of May 15th, a vigorous upper level low moved slowly southeast from the panhandle of Texas into the Red River Valley. A dry line strengthened throughout the day, triggering thunderstorms between Bowie and the DFW metroplex. As the upper storm moved slowly east and southeast, several supercell thunderstorms developed, and most of them produced tornadoes.
NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database.
Counties on its path
Storm Prediction Center severe weather database. Path drawn as a straight line from the recorded start to end point.