Stats
Path length: 30.2 miles
Width: 67 yards
Fatalities: 1
Injuries: 27
Rating: F3
County: Grayson, Fannin
Tornado Path
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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:
April 1955 Climatological Data National Summary
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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