Jarrell tornado

Jarrell tornado

View of the Jarrell tornado as it moved near the Double Creek Estates area around 3:48 pm
Meteorological history
Formed	May 27, 1997, 3:40 pm. CDT (UTC−05:00)
Dissipated	May 27, 1997, 3:59 pm. CDT (UTC−05:00)
Duration	19 minutes
F5 tornado
on the Fujita scale
Path length	5.1 miles (8.2 km)
Highest winds	>261 mph (420 km/h)
Overall effects
Fatalities	27
Injuries	12
Damage	$40 million[1] (1997 USD)
Areas affected	Jarrell, Texas and areas near Prairie Dell, Texas
[2]
Part of the 1997 Central Texas tornado outbreak and tornadoes of 1997

In the afternoon hours of May 27, 1997, a large, slow-moving and exceptionally intense F5 tornado caused extreme damage across portions of the Jarrell, Texas area. Known most frequently as the Jarrell tornado,^[2] it killed 27 residents in the Double Creek Estates, which at the time was a small subdivision located to the northwest of Jarrell, and inflicted approximately $40 million (1997 USD) in damages in its 13-minute, 5.1-mile (8.2 km) track. It occurred as part of a tornado outbreak across central Texas; it was produced by a supercell that had developed from an unstable airmass and favorable meteorological conditions at the time, including very high convective available potential energy (CAPE) values and warm dewpoints.

Several weaker tornadoes prior to the Jarrell tornado touched down and inflicted damage in nearby areas, particularly in Travis and Williamson counties. The National Weather Service office in Fort Worth issued several tornado warnings as a result, and later issued a tornado warning for the area encompassing Jarrell as the tornado-producing supercell approached the town. Shortly thereafter, within the Williamson County line, the tornado first touched down as a small rope-shaped funnel before it changed into a larger multi-vortex tornado cloaked in dust, which then strengthened rapidly as its width grew. As the tornado moved through a neighborhood near Jarrell, it began to slow down, before almost stopping completely over the area while reaching its maximum width and producing violent F5-level winds. The tornado stalled over the neighborhood for approximately 3 minutes, producing some of the most extreme tornadic wind damage ever recorded. As the tornado left the subdivision, it began to weaken, before dissipating in a forested area. In total, 27 residents of Jarrell, as well as hundreds of cattle, were killed. The tornado left behind a path of devastation, including many houses and buildings that were swept clean from their foundations. First responders had reported they could not tell what was human or not in the rubble of homes.

As of 2025, this tornado is Texas' most recent F5 or EF5 tornado. The tornado was the fourth-deadliest of the 1990s in the United States, only being surpassed by the 1990 Plainfield tornado that killed 29, the 1998 Birmingham tornado that killed 32, and the 1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado that killed 36. It was the only F5 tornado of 1997.