How Unusual Was Texas Tornado?
Blog reader Alex from Mexico City asked me whether or not the Eagle Pass tornado was the worst or deadliest tornado in south/west Texas or Mexico -- in other words, how rare was this event?
State tornado records are hard to come by in the U.S., much less Mexico, but with some research we can look at the storm in Texas two ways:
1. Tornado Strength: According to the NWS Report, the tornado was rated an EF-3. The Tornado map I created below shows the number of tornadoes between 1950 and 1995, and the highest rated tornado. It somewhat corresponds to a Population Map, especially in the south. This is not surprising because it is more likely that more tornadoes will be seen in more populous areas. F3 tornadoes occurred in 4 counties bordering Mexico, with an F4 in one. And of course, the EF-3 corresponds to some F2's. All in all, seeing a tornado the strength of the Eagle Pass twister is rare, but not unheard of.
2. Fatalities. News reports agree than 10 people were killed in Texas, with another 3 in Mexico. The NWS has a list of the Top 29 Deadliest Tornadoes in Texas Since 1900, all of which killed more than a dozen people. If you take out those that killed 12 or 13, that brings the number down to 25 Texas twisters that were more deadly than this one. But none of the counties bordering Mexico had any of those deadly tornadoes, so we can definitively say that this was the deadliest tornado for Texas/Mexico border counties.*
TEXAS POPULATION MAP
*I'm assuming there were no more deadly tornadoes since the aforementioned NWS page was written.
A worker clears debris from a tornado-damaged home in Piedras Negras, Mexico, Thursday, April 26, 2007. At least 10 people were killed when tornadoes swept through Piedras and Eagle Pass, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay )
Destroyed cars and homes are seen in a street after a tornado hit a day earlier in the border city of Piedras Negras, Mexico, Wednesday, April 25, 2007. A tornado tore through this Mexican border city, killing three people, injuring 87 others and damaging 300 homes.(AP Photo/Juan Montano)
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