May 11 stands out in Texas weather history for two very different reasons: it’s tied to the state’s deadliest tornado in Waco and one of its most destructive in Lubbock — storms that also helped shape how tornadoes are studied today.
Although they struck 17 years apart, both storms hit on May 11 and left lasting marks in very different ways — one defined by catastrophic loss of life, the other by how it reshaped tornado science and how storms are measured.
What is the deadliest tornado in Texas history?
Just after 4 p.m. on May 11, 1953, the day after Mother’s Day, a powerful tornado tore into downtown Waco and became the deadliest in Texas history, according to the National Weather Service.
The storm touched down near the small town of Lorena before moving about 15 miles north toward Waco, where the radar at Texas A&M showed a classic hook echo — a signature of a severe tornado. Nearly a third of a mile wide at its peak, the F5 tornado cut directly through the city, the weather service reported…