SPC Stats
Path length: 6 miles
Width: 800 yards
Fatalities: 3
Injuries: 48
Rating: F4
County: Dallas
A quick-hitting F4 tornado moved 6 miles across parts of Dallas County, TX on this day in 1994. 80% of the Lancaster downtown square was destroyed. 223 homes were destroyed and 227 damaged. 58 businesses were destroyed. Severe damage occurred to an elementary school and a junior high school. There were 3 fatalities and 48 injuries reported. Per Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes, F4 damage occurred just west of downtown Lancaster as a one-by-three block area of homes was leveled. He also notes that storm chasers suggest that this tornado and another in Desoto (officially listed as separate tornadoes), were actually a single tornado.
Tornado Path
Click Map To Enlarge
SPC coordinates: Start: 32.60 / -96.75 End: 32.67 / -96.67
Note: Exact tornado path may not be straight and/or continuous.
Videos
Newspaper Clippings
Discrepancies:
We gathered information for this event from the SPC & NCDC Databases, the April 1994 Storm Data Publication and Thomas Grazulis in Significant Tornadoes and found the following differences:
Time Stamp:
- Grazulis has the start time at 20:40.
- All other sources list the start time at 20:30.
Sources:
April 1994 Storm Data Publication
Grazulis, Thomas P. (1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991: A Chronology and Analysis of Events. St. Johnsbury, VT: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. Page 1362.
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