Jarrell-Tornado-Anniversary Fort Worth/Dallas, TX
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The Tornadoes of May 27, 1997
Event Summary:
A deadly severe weather episode unfolded across portions of Central Texas during the afternoon and evening hours on Tuesday, May 27th, 1997. This event was made infamous by one of the most powerful tornadoes on record: an F5 which tore through a subdivision of Jarrell called Double Creek Estates in extreme northern Williamson County during the mid-afternoon. Some of the most extreme damage on record occurred with this tornado, and one account states that “the earth was scoured bare, pavement was ripped from roadways, [and] homes and other buildings were completely pulverized” (Lon Curtis, Weather Bulletin). Two F3-rated tornadoes touched down (one each in Bell and McLennan Counties), along with 8 additional tornadoes, one of which (the Prairie Dell Tornado) would eventually grow into the ¾ mile-wide F5 Jarrell tornado.
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(Left): Map of tornadoes on the afternoon of May 27th, 1997. The Jarrell tornado track actually consists of 3 distinct tornadoes. More information on these tornadoes can be found on NWS Austin/San Antonio's webpage. While the Jarrell tornado produced the most extreme damage just south of our area of responsibility, the initial tornado developed near the small town of Prairie Dell in extreme southern Bell County. (Right): Visible satellite animation valid from 11 AM - 6:45 PM.
This event was additionally unusual because of the notable lack of upper-level forcing for ascent (lift), and generally light winds through the troposphere--where our weather occurs. In a sense, this day was distinctly lacking two of the four crucial ingredients we typically look for on big severe weather events (strong lift and wind shear, especially near the surface). Yet, over the course of roughly six hours, 20 tornadoes touched down across the Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin/San Antonio forecast areas of responsibility. As we’ll examine in detail on this webpage, the Jarrell tornado was spawned from a lone, southwestward-propagating supercell which initially developed along a cold front near Waco during the early afternoon.
