Stats

Path length: 30.2 miles

Width:  67 yards

Fatalities:  1

Injuries:  27

Rating:  F3

County:  Grayson, Fannin

Tornado Path

Click Map To Enlarge

SPC coordinates:  Start: 33.63 / -96.60   End:  3.58 / -96.08      

Note:  Exact tornado path may not be straight and/or continuous.

Summary

Eight F3 tornadoes have occurred on April 6 (1950-2016).  We are looking at one of those in this summary from 1955.  This tornado is officially listed in the SPC database having a length close to 30 miles moving through Grayson and Fannin Counties.  Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes has a much shorter path of only 2 miles.  He notes that downburst winds damaged hundreds of homes from Sherman to Bonham.

More details from Grazulis:  This was a small tornado that destroyed two frame houses and many trailers in the NW part of Sherman.  A night watchman at a oil well was killed when he took shelter in a nearby trailer.  

Official rating:  F3.  Grazulis has an F2 rating.

Newspaper Clippings

Discrepancies:

We gathered information for this event from the SPC & NCDC Databases, the April 1955 Climatological Data National Summary (CDNS) and Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes and found the following differences:

Width:

  • SPC/NCDC list a 67 yard width.
  • Grazulis rounds up to 70 yards.
  • CDNS has a 2 1/2 mile width listed???

Path length:

  • SPC/NCDC list a path length of 30.2.
  • CDNS is close with 30 miles.
  • Grazulis only has a 2 mile path.  He notes that a lot of the damage along the path was from downburst winds not from a tornado.

Injuries:

  • CDNS lists 44 injuries from this event.
  • All other sources list 27 injuries.

Counties:

  • Grazulis only lists Grayson County in the path.
  • All other sources list Grayson and Fannin Counties.

Rating:

  • SPC/NCDC have an F3 rating.
  • Grazulis has an F2 rating.

Note:  CDNS has an entry before the Grayson/Fannin one that talks about a tornado near Collinsville.  They mention, “May be beginning of Sherman storm.” So there is a chance this tornado began about 20 miles further WSW.

    Sources:

    The Storm Prediction Center

    NCDC Storm Events Database

    April 1955 Climatological Data National Summary

    newspapers.com

    Grazulis, Thomas P. (1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VT: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. Page 986.

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    Note:  There are some images/videos in our summaries that were licensed to us to be used only on this website. If you would like to use an image/video in your project or blog, please contact us and we will grant permission if possible.

    Newspaper clips are embedded via newspapers.com. Please see their terms and conditions.

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