Wichita Falls, TX Tornado History — 122 Tornadoes Since 1950
How many tornadoes has Wichita Falls, TX had?
Wichita Falls has had 122 tornadoes on record within 25 miles since 1950, including 12 violent (EF3+) tornadoes.
When was the most recent tornado near Wichita Falls?
The most recent tornado within 25 miles of Wichita Falls was an EF0 on August 28, 2025.
When is tornado season in Wichita Falls?
May is historically the peak month for tornadoes near Wichita Falls, with 50 on record. Spring through early summer (April–June) generally sees the highest activity across most of the central and southern United States.
At a Glance
Recent Tornado Activity Near Wichita Falls
The last 20 years of confirmed tornadoes within 25 miles — 25 total, averaging 1.3 per year over this window.
Preliminary tornado reports near Wichita Falls since December 29, 2025
These are 2 preliminary reports, not confirmed tornadoes. They have not yet been through an NWS damage survey, and are not counted in the confirmed totals above.
Preliminary reports are revised, merged, and sometimes withdrawn — historically about 23% are consolidated downward once surveys complete. Ratings are omitted until a survey assigns one.
Confirmed records above are complete through December 29, 2025. NOAA publishes the confirmed archive annually, so tornadoes after that date appear here first and move into the totals above once finalized.
Within 25 miles of Wichita Falls. Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center preliminary storm reports, updated daily.
Tornadoes by Decade
Tornadoes by Enhanced Fujita Rating
F0–F5 ratings (pre-2007) are grouped with their EF equivalents. The Enhanced Fujita scale replaced the original Fujita scale in February 2007.
Tornadoes by Month
Casualties on Record Near Wichita Falls
58 fatalities have been recorded within 25 miles of Wichita Falls since 1950, across 6 events. 1,901 injuries have been reported across all events. 1979 was the deadliest year on record.
The deadliest single event was a F4 on April 10, 1979, which caused 42 fatalities along a 46.9-mile track.
Notable Tornadoes Near Wichita Falls
About Tornadoes in Wichita Falls
This overview was written August 10, 2026. The tornado counts and notable-event figures elsewhere on this page reflect the latest data and may differ from this summary.
Where the Rolling Plains of north Texas meet the Red River valley, dry air sliding east off the Caprock routinely collides with humid Gulf flow, making this corner of the southern Great Plains a natural breeding ground for rotating thunderstorms. Wichita Falls sits squarely in that collision zone, and its tornado history spans generations. An F2 crossed the area on April 20, 1951, and F3 tornadoes followed in May and June of 1954, the May storm killing 3 people along a 12.3-mile track. An F4 carved a 21.6-mile path on May 24, 1957, and an F5 struck on April 3, 1964, killing 7 people and injuring 111. Then came April 10, 1979, when an F4 up to 1,320 yards wide tore across 46.9 miles, killing 42 people and injuring 1,740. A later chapter added an F1 on May 8, 1993. More recently, a brief EF0 touched down on August 28, 2025.
The reasons are durable. Each spring the dryline — the boundary between desert-dry air from the west and Gulf of Mexico moisture streaming north — sets up near this stretch of Texas, while jet-stream disturbances aloft supply the wind shear that lets storms rotate. Cold fronts dropping off the High Plains add another trigger. The result, preserved in the NOAA Storm Prediction Center database, is a record reaching from the 1950s into the 2020s, one that grandparents, parents, and children in Wichita Falls have each experienced in their own time; the event list elsewhere on this page traces it in detail.